Demigod Cases Suck
by ch33tahp4w
Summary: Sequel to my other story- She's a Mortal, PSYCH. Should probably read that one first. So, Atalanta and Nico take a trip to California after the latter got in some trouble with the police. They meet the Psych gang, realizing somewhere along the way how difficult the case might be. How will Shawn and Gus react to meeting a god? Contains my OC. Psych AU
1. Things just got more complicated

**This story takes place after Santabarbratown 2 and about five months after The Lost Hero. **

**Okay, so, I've rewritten this entire story- finally- and I hope you enjoy it!**

**Don't forget to reread She's a Mortal: PSYCH if you haven't already because I've also rewritten that whole thing :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

**(For anyone who read the story with 'Carly' as my OC, please keep in mind that I have changed her name. Thank you)**

* * *

**_Long Island_**

Atalanta POV

Atalanta Jackson ran around the candy castle with glee. Not another soul in sight- nope, the whole place was just Atalanta's. She ran down the hallway, a mixture of white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate making up the walls. Each piece of chocolate specifically placed so the walls looked both elegant and delicious. Turning a corner, Atalanta allowed herself to 'whoop' in joy as she slid down the strawberry twizzler handrail and landed with a crunch on the giant rectangle vanilla wafer floor.

She tripped on a deformity on the floor, but laughed it off and took a huge bite of the wafer. She got back up and ran to the marshmallow couch, jumping up and landing on her stomach on the soft surface. The world of gods didn't exist- all that she knew was a life in the candy castle.

And it was a very good life.

She got off the half eaten couch and sprinted towards the kitchen which was stocked with even more junk food. Kit Kats, chocolate brownies, cookies, M&Ms, Peeps, gummy bears, Snowflakes, Goobers, milk duds, Hershey kisses, Reese's pieces, Twix, Starbursts, skittles….

Atalanta had a Pirouette wafer centimeters from her mouth when-

Sea-green eyes flew open when something landed on her already wounded stomach, pain ripping through her abdomen. She gasped, her hands immediately flying up to her Pegasus charm bracelet and squeezing it. The familiar weight of her three foot, wickedly sharp Celestial Bronze blade comforted her slightly in her still dark cabin.

"Who's there?" Atalanta demanded, sleepiness quickly replaced with outrage when she realized that all that candy was just a dream. And she'd been _woken up from it_.

Whatever had fallen on her wound- something gotten from a spear to the stomach- groaned from its place on the floor right next to Atalanta's bed. In about two seconds, the intruder was under Atalanta's knee, a fistful of the person's shirt in her hand as she leveled her sword right between their eyes. Whoever Atalanta currently held captive was breathing heavily, obviously winded from their little trip to her cabin.

"Attie?" The person gasped.

She knew that voice, which only made her angrier. "Nico?! Why in _Hades_ are you here? I was having a _dream_! Do you know how often I have dreams anymore?! Not that often!"

"I-"

Quite suddenly, Atalanta let go of Nico's shirt, only half satisfied when she heard the thump of his head hitting the floor and a groan from the son of Hades. She stumbled around her cabin, cursing when she stubbed her toe on something hard on the floor. She couldn't be sure what it was, cleaning wasn't exactly her specialty.

Atalanta flicked on the light switch and spun around, fully prepared to start yelling at Nico for disturbing her sleep, but when she saw him her anger dissipated. The boy had pulled himself to an upright position, using the bed as support; his obsidian eyes were slightly unfocused as they stared at her. His skin was even paler than usual, almost transparent as some of his veins were visible beneath his skin. Nico's aviator jacket- a jacket that he never took off, even when Atalanta's mom had tried to wash it- wasn't on his person.

Protective instincts for her younger cousin kicked in as she made her way back over to him, "Nico? What-"

His eyes rolled in the back of his head as he passed out and toppled over to the floor. Atalanta cringed as head hit the floor, his neck bent at what looked like an uncomfortable angle. She walked over to the boy and easily picked him up bridal style, laying him on Percy's bed and planning to question the boy in the morning.

For now, though, Atalanta was going to dream of candy.

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

"Atalanta!" an urgent voice called above her. Ugh, can't it wait?

She rolled over in her bed and threw a pillow in the direction of Nico's voice, "Go away!"

The pillow that she threw at Nico was suddenly turned against her as it was slammed on her head, "Wake up!"

Another hit on her head caused her to grab the weapon and shove it under her face, "I'm tired."

"For Hades sakes, would you _get up_?!"

Reluctantly, Atalanta opened her eyes and turned her head to glare at the son of Hades. When she'd fallen back to sleep, her original dream was replaced with pitch blackness for the rest of the night. She wasn't exactly ready to forgive the younger demigod for waking her up earlier.

Still, she was glad the boy looked better than earlier. Even if his eyes were a little frantic, the color had returned to his skin and he didn't look as tired. Well, as much color as the already pale boy had to offer.

"Gods, Nico, what's wrong?"

Nico groaned and ran a hand through his messy hair, "I have the worst luck."

Atalanta gave him a look. If anyone had bad luck it was her, "What happened, now?"

She moved herself into a sitting position when Nico plopped himself on her bed. "Well… I took a trip to California. My destination _was_ Hollywood- I wanted to see some famous people, but… I didn't exactly get to Hollywood."

Atalanta's ears perked up at the mention of California. Last year, she'd been sent on a surprise trip to California by Dionysus to catch his deranged murdering daughter. Of course she didn't do it alone- Atalanta met up with Shawn Spencer, a 'Psychic' who solved murder cases with his best friend Burton 'Gus' Guster. She'd also met up with two detectives, Juliet O'Hera and Carlton Lassiter, who were less helpful with the case. During the case, Atalanta ran into a hard choice: tell her secret and clear an innocent man's name or let him go to jail and keep the psychopath running around California. Telling her secret wasn't easy, and she was pretty sure that Lassiter and Juliet were unnerved by the fact that all the gods still existed. Still, it had been fun hanging out with everyone there.

"So where'd you go?"

"I'm not sure where exactly…." His voice trailed off as he mumbled the next part.

Atalanta rolled her eyes, "Speak up."

"I _may_ have shadow traveled in on a dead person."

Atalanta's nose scrunched up, "Uh, ew. Did you at least take a shower?"

"No!" Nico gave a frustrated huff. "I shadow traveled in on a dead person the _exact_ moment the police barged in! It looked so bad, they took me to the _station_!"

"You were arrested?" Atalanta asked, trying to hide her smile.

He glared at her, "I was put in the holding cell. But I shadow traveled out of there as soon as possible. That's how I got here."

"You went from California to New York?" Atalanta asked. "No wonder you were so tired."

Nico stood up and began pacing, "What if they put a bounty on my head?! Attie, I'll have to live on the run! Why does this always happen to _me_?!"

Atalanta's smile turned into a laugh, "Calm down! You watch too many movies."

"Then what am I gonna do?"

She shrugged and stood up. Her plans for the day had originally been to sleep till noon and possibly help build the ship, but going to California seemed like a better choice. And if she met up with Shawn and Gus to solve another murder case, it would be worth missing a day of boredom.

"Let's go down to California!"

Nico stopped his pacing and looked at Atalanta like she'd just grown another head, "You want to go down there? Did I forget to mention that I'm wanted?!"

She laughed and looked down at her clothing, just now realizing that she fell asleep in her cloths from the day before, and decided it wouldn't hurt to wear them again. She took Nico's cold hand in hers, "We need to clear your name. Come on, you don't want to be on the run for the rest of your life, do you?"

He glared at her for the sarcasm and she grinned broadly at him. Without warning, the shadows around the two demigods moved towards them, engulfing the two in blackness. They were suddenly moving, faster than the speed of sound. Atalanta would never get used to the feeling of shadow traveling. It felt like ice cold water was dropped on her person and her face felt like it was coming off. She was screaming, because who doesn't when they're shadow traveling? Nico's fingers cracked as she held on to his hand for dear life.

Suddenly, the darkness cleared and Atalanta opened her eyes to see that they were in the middle of a dimly lit sidewalk. It looked really early in the morning, and she almost whooped for joy once she recognized the area. It was a few blocks away from the Santa Barbra Police Station, and a couple blocks away from the Psych office.

Nico's legs buckled as he leaned heavily on her side. She groaned, remembering Percy's story when he and Nico were in the underworld to turn Percy mostly invincible. Walking with a drowsy son of Hades was not a fun experience.

Their best bet would be to walk to the Psych office to see if Shawn and Gus could talk Lassiter into _not_ arresting her cousin. Then they could totally join up together and solve the case!

Nico lifted a shaky finger to point in the direction of the police department, "The police- department-"

Atalanta cut him off and wrapped her arms around his waist to keep they boy upright, "We're not going there. First, we're going to visit some of my friends."

Nico gave her a sideways glance, and together they walked to the Psych office. Well, Atalanta was mostly carrying/ dragging Nico down the sidewalk. She didn't need him passing out yet so to fill the silence in the air, decided to tell him the story of when she'd been sent on her trip to California.

Atalanta left out the part about Shawn not being Psychic, because she'd promised Shawn that she'd keep it a secret. Atalanta wasn't one to break promises.

They arrived at the office, Atalanta having to slap Nico a few times over to keep him awake. The lights weren't on and she knew that Shawn and Gus didn't usually sleep in the office.

"Come on, Nico," Atalanta urged. "Just one little shadow travel. Then you can pass out. You just need to get us in the office."

"You want- me to add-" he yawned, "-breaking and- entering- onto what they- already think- I did?'

"It's fine. I know these people. Besides, you'd just be entering."

Nico just didn't have the energy to argue, so he used whatever strength he had left to get them inside the building. Once they were in, Atalanta unwrapped her arms from around his waist when she felt like he was going to make her fall. Nico stumbled before face planting onto the floor in a snoring heap. She stifled her giggles and picked the young boy up before placing him on the couch.

Atalanta looked around the room, noticing that it pretty much looked exactly the same it did the last time she was there. Her eyes scanned over Shawn's desk and she laughed outright when she saw the black and hot pink Furby sitting there. Guess Gus couldn't get rid of a second one without her help.

Happy for an excuse to sleep awhile longer, Atalanta plopped down on the chair by Shawn's desk and followed Nico's lead into the blissful world of sleep.

**_California_**

Shawn POV

Shawn Spencer hadn't slept peacefully for the past week. Each night, Juliet had to wake him up- informing Shawn that he'd been tossing and turning and sometimes mumbling in his sleep. Shawn didn't know what was happening, nightmares maybe? He didn't know, because he didn't remember _anything_.

He'd shrug it off- everyone had nightmares- but around four o'clock in the morning, Juliet had to wake him up. Again.

"Shawn," Juliet mumbled sleepily to her boyfriend. He was mumbling incoherently and sweat was gathering on his brow. She nudged his shoulder, "Shawn. Wake up. You're having a nightmare."

When he didn't wake up, Juliet reached over and shook his shoulder. Hazel eyes flew open, and Shawn was able to mutter a few words coherently: _Doors of Death_, before fully awakening. He sat up quickly, his throat suddenly dry.

"Is it about your dad getting shot?" Juliet asked quietly after a moment of silence.

"No," Shawn's voice was raspy and he coughed to clear it. "No. At least, I don't think so. Jules, I'm not sure _what_ I'm dreaming about."

Concern was evident on his girlfriends face so he leaned over and kissed her lightly on the nose, "Don't worry about it. I'm just going to get some water."

Juliet nodded and slowly lay herself back down before closing her eyes. Shawn stumbled around in the dark, determined not to turn on any of the lights so at least his girlfriend could get some sleep.

Once Shawn reached the kitchen, he braced himself on the counter and took deep breaths. Why was this happening? _Why_ didn't he remember his nightmares?

After a few more minutes of hard thinking, trying to remember, Shawn gave up. Quickly downing a cup of water, Shawn made his way back to bed. He gently eased his way into the covers, mindful of the already sleeping Juliet, and fell back asleep.

There were no nightmares that time.

The next morning, Shawn made it to the Psych office just in time to see the Blueberry pulling up to the curb. Gus quickly got out of the small car, yawning and juggling his keys as he did. He waved at Shawn as he approached.

"You hear about what happened yesterday?" Gus asked.

"You saw that video too?! I swear, they trained that cat to-"

"It wasn't a video, Shawn," Gus rolled his eyes. "I meant about the fifteen year old they found with a dead body. Lassie took the kid in for questioning, but he disappeared- somehow managing to get out of the holding cell."

Shawn tilted his head to the side and watched as his friend fumbled around with the keys, trying to find the right one. Maybe Shawn wasn't the only one that hadn't gotten a good night sleep.

When they walked into the office, Shawn immediately knew that something was wrong. He felt… _something_ that made him edgy. One glance at Gus and Shawn knew that his best friend hadn't sensed it.

"Dude," Shawn whispered. "Someone's in here."

His friend froze and looked at Shawn with wide eyes. Before Gus could run out of the office, Shawn gently pushed him through the door. He grabbed a broom while Gus reached for a lamp. Together, they stealthy walked into the office.

What they found was a very pale boy sleeping on their couch.

Shawn's tense muscles relaxed as they looked at the kid. What he was doing in the Psych office was beyond Shawn, but the boy didn't look like much of a threat. He was skinny, like ribs showing through his skin, skinny. His hair was dark brown and oily, looking like a rats nest. The boy's mouth was open as he snored, blissfully unaware of Shawn and Gus standing over him.

"That's the kid!" Gus stated in a harsh whisper. "That's the kid Lassie's been looking for!" He turned his head to glare at Shawn, "You left the door open, didn't you?!"

"Nuh-uh," Shawn protested. "I definitely locked it… probably."

Both men were too tired to remember that Gus had unlocked the door to get in.

"We have a murder in the Psych office," Gus whimpered.

"Dude, look at him," Shawn gestured to the kid. "He couldn't do any damage."

"Looks can be deceiving," a slightly familiar voice stated cheerily.

Shawn and Gus both jumped. They spun around quickly, 'weapons' raised above their heads as they prepared to attack.

But all they saw was an old friend.

"Attie!" Shawn stated happily as he looked over the demigod.

Atalanta was sitting at Shawn's desk, her sea-green eyes filled with humor as she saw what they were prepared to defend themselves with. Her raven black hair was slightly disheveled, like she'd stuck her head out of a car window. She stood up and cracked her back leisurely. Shawn noticed that her stomach looked a little lumpy under her crinkled shirt, and that there were a few bruises on her arms. He wondered what had happened there.

"Hey, Atalanta," Gus greeted with a smile as he lowered the lamp. "What brings you to Santa Barbra?"

"Him," Atalanta stated, pointing at the child still sleeping on the couch.

Both men glanced at the kid, "You're here… with him?"

"You know, he may have murdered someone," Shawn pointed out.

Atalanta laughed slightly, "Nah, that's my cousin. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Gus frowned, "Your cousin?"

"On my dad's side," Atalanta clarified as she walked around the desk and towards them. "Meet Nico Di Angelo: Son of Hades."

"Hades?" Gus squeaked as he shuffled away from Nico. "God of the underworld? Ruler of Hell?"

"Yup, that one," she confirmed as she flicked the young boy on the back of the head. Gus looked at her like she was crazy. That was understandable- since his dad _ruled_ _the_ _dead_.

"Come on, Death Breath," Atalanta flicked him again. "I really hope I'm interrupting a very good dream."

Shawn didn't know what that meant, and he wasn't sure he was going to find out. Nico groaned suddenly and wacked Atalanta's hand away from his head, "Okay, I'm sorry about yesterday. Happy?"

"Nope," she replied in a sing-song voice. She grabbed him by the back collar of his shirt and yanked him to the floor. He landed on his face with a thud.

Gus looked ready to pee his pants when the young boy hit the wood. "Should you really be making him angry?"

"He's not the Hulk, Gus," Shawn rolled his eyes.

Nico picked himself off the floor and glared halfheartedly at Atalanta. He tousled his hair, making his bed head look even messier. But the bed head kind of worked for the kid.

"Are we sure he didn't murder anyone?" Gus asked bluntly.

"I didn't kill anyone," Nico huffed. "Besides, he was a murdered demigod-"

Atalanta's smile slowly slid off her face as she cocked her head to the side, "A murdered demigod?"

Nico nodded, face grim, "I felt his aura of a demigod when I fell on him. It wasn't very strong though."

Atalanta took a huge breath and plopped her face down on the couch where Nico had been previously sleeping. Shawn understood. The last time she was here, Atalanta helped solve a 'demigod murdering case' and almost died a couple of times. Plus, the case was confusing. The murdering daughter of Dionysus left little to no evidence and if Atalanta hadn't been there, Shawn didn't know if his fake Psychic abilities would have been enough.

Shawn still remembered the Ball Ski monsters.

Shaking his head, Shawn suggested going down to the police station, but Nico wasn't really up to the idea, "The Irish cop is going to arrest me!"

"Lassie?" Gus asked. He shrugged, "Maybe."

"Well, he knows about the Greek gods," Atalanta's muffled voice came from the couch cushions. "Maybe he'll give Nico a pass."

"Worth a shot," he looked at Nico. "Besides, can't you get out of the holding cell again?"

Nico scowled and nodded. Shawn wondered how he got out of the holding cell the first time. Had he been transported by a god like Atalanta was the first time she came? Did he have some transportation ability?

"Will Lassie let your cousin go?" Shawn asked in an overly dramatic and deep voice as he rose the keys he swiped from Gus, "Only one way to find out."


	2. Let's start

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Shawn POV

When they walked through the station doors, Shawn immediately noticed the absence of officers. Usually, the station was a bustle of activity. Now, though, it was strangely quiet- and the lights were off.

After walking past the front desk and turning the corner, they saw why.

All the officers were gathered around in a half circle, each looking at a projector screen with mild interest. Lassiter directed the meeting, standing in front of the screen and pointing at the various pictures on it.

One picture was Nico.

Shawn heard Nico take a sharp intake of breath and mutter something about him not actually looking that pale. Atalanta stood in front if the boy, obviously trying to keep her chuckles to herself at what Nico was saying.

"This kid is our number one priority," Lassiter growled. "Nico Di Angelo. He was found yesterday with a dead body that we suspect he murdered. I wanted this kid in the holding cell ten hours ago!"

"Well, we can't just show you to Lassie, or any other cops, now can we?" Shawn chuckled. "Why don't you guys get down to the interrogation room? We'll meet you down there."

Atalanta gave him a mock salute before grabbing her cousin's hand and dragging him towards the stairs.

Shawn and Gus walked over to the half circle and effectively pushed their way to the front to get a better view. Besides Nico's picture- who looked extremely pissed- there was also an image of the murdered victim. His skin was extremely pale- hazel eyes staring dully at nothing. His shaggy brown hair was plastered to his face with sweat. He didn't have many items on his person, but there was a nice gold watch wrapped around his right wrist. The pictures didn't show any blood on the victim's cloths, but there was a puncture mark that went right through the man's jeans.

Lassiter finished his little speech and looked around at the cops surrounding him. With a glare, they dispersed.

"Lassieface!" Shawn greeted while Gus nodded to the older man.

"Spencer," he responded stiffly as he moved towards his own desk. "Guster."

"Very inspirational speech you had going on there," Shawn observed.

Lassiter stood up a little straighter and allowed a self satisfied smirk to light up his face. Complements always worked.

"But totally unnecessary."

And the smirk was replaced with a scowl, "What do you mean?"

"We've got a present for you in the interrogation room," Gus said.

Lassiter sighed and pinched the bridges if his nose, "Don't tell me. You _found_ the kid."

Shawn just smirked, put a hand to his temple, and swiftly turned around to walk to the other room. He heard Lassiter groan before following his lead.

When they got to the one sided glass, Shawn noticed Lassiter's eyes flash with what looked like fear when he saw Atalanta sitting there. The emotion was quickly gone though, and Shawn completely understood the fear that passed in his eyes.

"Is that Atalanta?" He asked before squinting slightly in the glass. "With the suspect?!"

Before Shawn or Gus could tell Lassiter that it was okay, Nico wasn't the murder, he was already pulling his gun out and walking inside the room. Shawn and Gus shared an exasperated glance before following- wondering how this was going to go down.

"Atalanta," Lassiter greeted with his gun trained on Nico. "Mind telling me who this boy is?"

"Hey Lassie," Atalanta responded cheerily. She slapped Nico's hand when it twitched to the very scary looking skull ring on his finger, "And this _boy_ is my cousin."

"You're going to tell me why I shouldn't arrest him, aren't you?"

She nodded, "He's a demigod. Being by the dead body was just bad luck."

Lassiter slowly lowered his gun, looking as if the weight of the world had just been placed on his shoulders. "Another demigod."

Nico gave the cop a wary look and Atalanta flinched slightly. Maybe he heard the older man's tone in how he said it- or maybe she saw how much he tensed.

It wasn't against her- well, maybe a little. Lassiter _and_ Juliet just never got used to the idea of the Greek gods still existing. They might have even tried to totally forget about the murder case that happened about a year ago.

"Uh, yeah. And they victim-"

"_Another_ demigod."

"Sorry Lassie," Atalanta sighed. "I don't choose what happens in my world."

"So, what?" Lassiter demanded. "We're supposed to go on _another_ roller coaster of a case to please the gods?"

Nico's eyes narrowed, "The gods? That's not it."

"The victim was a _demigod_, Lassie," Atalanta stated sharply. "With all these... _complications_ on the Greek side, we'd greatly appreciate it if this murder could go to jail. The dead guy was a part of _my_ family, and like any other family, I want to catch this guy!"

"Who knows?" Nico joined in. "Our murder could go after mortals- your people- if we don't stop them."

"So, yeah, the case will probably be hard," Atalanta shrugged lightly. "But we're kinda, sorta, professionals! It'll be fine."

Fine like last time? Shawn wanted to ask.

But instead he watched he stare down the initiated after the demigods finished their rant. Lassiter looked like he'd love nothing more than to turn around and walk away, but out of pure stubbornness of not backing down to a teenager, stayed. The kids weren't backing down anytime soon and Shawn knew that if Lassiter didn't accept the case, then they would just come ask him to solve it anyway.

And Shawn being Shawn would accept it.

The staring contest ended when Lassiter nodded slightly and swiftly turned to leave the room, obviously expecting to be followed. As soon as he turned, Atalanta and Nico grinned and high-fived each other before standing up and leaving.

"Uh, what just happened?" Gus asked, sounding completely lost.

"I think we just got a case," Shawn replied with smirk and a fist bump.

They joined Lassiter, Atalanta, and Nico at the bottom of the steps, "Now I have to cancel the search," Lassiter was grumbling. He pointed to Nico, "But I've got my eyes on you."

Nico waved him off, "Yeah, yeah. Now, I do have a question about something. Where's my aviators jacket?"

"You mean that jacket we put in the evidence locker? That thing looked like a hundred years old," Lassiter said with obvious disgust.

"If you threw my jacket away, I swear to all the gods-"

"We still have it!" Lassiter rushed at the glare the young boy was directing in his direction. A glare Shawn was glad wasn't directed at him, "I would just need to make a stop at the evidence locker."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Nico crossed his arms, "Skeletons to pop out if the ground?"

"What does that even mean?" Gus demanded after a lengthy pause.

"Irrelevant," Atalanta rushed. "Let's just get the jacket so we can leave."

After Lassiter made a quick stop the evidence locker, Nico got his precious jacket back. Something seemed… off about the jacket, though. Shawn's been to enough museums, unwillingly dragged there by Gus and Juliet, to know what a World War II jacket would look like- and it looked like the jacket Nico was wearing. Plus, like Lassiter said, it looked a hundred years old. Coincidence?

After exiting the Police station with all their necessary equipment, Shawn, Gus, Atalanta, and Nico piled into the Blueberry and followed Lassiter's car to the morgue.

"So, what's new?" Shawn asked when the silence in the car was too much for him to bear.

Atalanta tore her gaze from the window to spare a glance at Shawn, "Well, I saved the world again, almost died a couple times."

Shawn chuckled at her complete nonchalance over that, "Well, I got a girlfriend."

Atalanta held her finger up, "Wait! Lemme guess... Juliet?"

"How'd you know?"

"I totally saw it coming," she answered smugly. "What about you, Gus?"

"Oh, you know, a playa never gets held up by just one girl," Gus replied quickly.

"That's Gus for 'Not at all'," Shawn stated cheerfully.

"Don't worry, Gus," Atalanta laughed, "Nico doesn't have a girlfriend either."

Nico's cheeks turned pink- something clearly defined on his pale skin, "Shut up."

"You know, I always thought that you and Lou Ellen..." Atalanta trailed off, a bright smile on her face when Nico's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.

"Since when were you a daughter of Aphrodite?" Nico shot at her.

Atalanta shuddered while Shawn and Gus shared a look. It was weird to talk about the Greek gods at all, but talking about them in present tense was even weirder. Thinking about the gods made Shawn think about the war Atalanta had mentioned the last time she visited.

_"They reached adulthood and you took their lives!"_

That was something Atalanta had screamed at the crazy murdering demigod about a year ago. She mentioned adulthood like... like demigods never reached adulthood. If that was the case, then had the war she had mentioned before been fought by teenagers?

It wasn't a very happy thought.

Shawn was pulled out of his musings when Gus parked the car. He didn't even notice that they reached their destination, something very un-Shawn like. Lassiter was already walking through the doors, causing their little group to rush and catch up to him.

Where the morgue would usually be carrying dozens of police officers, this time it was fairly empty. Not another officer, besides Lassiter who was quickly making his way down the hall, was in sight. Maybe everyone was sent home because of it being another demigod case that no one was allowed to know about.

When they finally reached the right door, they saw Juliet waiting outside of it. The surprise was evident on her face when she saw Atalanta walking up as well.

"Hello, Atalanta," Juliet smiled hesitantly at her. "Wasn't expecting you here." She gave Shawn a look. A look that clearly meant that she didn't enjoy the fact that the young demigod was there.

Shawn knew Atalanta saw the look, possibly Nico too, but forced a smile on her face and rushed out, "Hey, Jules! Long time, no see, huh? Well, meet my cousin, Nico Di Angelo- he's, uh, a demigod also."

Juliet pressed her lips in a thin line, obviously remembering the boy from the holding cell, "Oh. Well, I heard that Carlton cleared the area of police officers. Is this another… one of those cases?"

"Yeah."

Juliet sighed and turned around, walking into the autopsy room. Atalanta and Shawn glanced at each other and walked into the room as well, motioning for Gus and Nico to follow.

On the cold metal table, lay the body of the man that Shawn saw on the projection screen back at the Police station. His hazel eyes were closed, a blue sheet covering most of his pale body. His Shaggy brown hair was hanging loosely, pushed out of his face presumably by Woody.

Speaking of Woody, the man was standing by the feet of the dead body, playing with the dead toes of the man. Lassiter cleared his throat, causing Woody to look up and, seeing that everyone was in the room, begin.

"First of all, I want to make sure that he," Woody pointed to Nico, "is allowed in here. I do not need to be sued."

Nico tilted his head to the side and looked at the strange man while Lassiter answered, "He's clear. Now tell us-"

"Oh! Hello, Atalanta," Woody nodded towards the demigod. Atalanta grinned slightly and gave him a tiny wave.

"Woody!" Lassiter barked causing the coroner to jump. "Tell us about the body!"

"Always in a rush, detective," Woody mused before pulling out his clipboard. "His name was Bailey Kindlewood. I'm placing his time of death about… two days ago, around 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM."

Shawn remembered the projection screen.

_The pictures didn't show any blood on the victim's cloths, but there was a puncture mark that went right through the man's jeans._

Shawn took a sharp intake of breath and allowed his right leg to go limp. Catching himself on the side of the metal table, he placed his hand behind the top half of his right leg. Nico had stumbled away from Shawn as he fell, his hand twitching towards the skull ring on his finger.

"Something bit me!" Shawn gasped.

Gus looked at his best friend, "What?"

"A bite wound!" Shawn replied as he pointed to the victim. "There's a bite wound on the leg."

Shawn was well aware of Nico watching him closely. The boy opened his mouth; probably about to call Shawn on being a fake, but Atalanta was already clasping her hand on the pale boy's mouth and placing a finger to her lips. Nico scowled slightly before nodding.

Woody nodded with an impressed look on his face, "Good job, Shawn. Yes there was a bite wound on his leg. After taking a sample of his blood, I also found a very high dosage of dendrotoxins, fasciculins, and calcuseotine. Venom commonly found in the snake the Black Mamba."

"The Black Mamba? A snake commonly found in eastern and southern Africa," Gus supplied.

"There were also markings on his neck," Woody pointed to the purple bruising going all around the man's neck. "But the cause of death was definitely from the poison."

"Who would carry around a Black Mamba in California?" Lassiter asked with a frown.

Nico and Atalanta shared a look. Were they thinking that the bite wound was from a monster? Last summer, Atalanta had informed every one of the monsters roaming the world that would constantly like to eat demigods. Many of the monsters could have poison similar to the Black Mamba, which would make the animal even harder to find.

"There's not a lot of evidence on the body," Lassiter stated slowly as if remembering the last demigod case. "So the best we could do is look at some of the things gathered from the crime scene."

"Otherwise known as: Shifting through evidence in hopes of finding something," Atalanta clarified, her nose scrunched up.

"_We're_ going to shift through evidence," Juliet stated, gesturing between her and Lassiter. "You guys can go down to the crime scene and divine something psychicly."

In other words: We don't want to hang out with the demigods so we're leaving them with you.

"So are you guys going to tell us where the murder took place?" Shawn asked.

Nico answered, "Oh, I know that one."

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

They drove to where Nico directed them- a parking garage by the local Taco Bell. Driving up the many floors to C1, Nico was the first out of the car, determined to find something and clear his name for good. Atalanta was hot on his heels, obviously determined as well. Shawn and Gus were a little less enthusiastic as they got out of the car last.

"So," Shawn started as he clapped his hands together, "spread out, search for clues-"

"Found something!" Nico yelled triumphantly as he ran over to something that was lying on the ground. It was a small round object that caught what little light shone through the garage.

He scooped it up in his hands and examined it with a critical eye, "Uh, I don't know what this is."

Gus rolled his eyes and walked over to the boy, surprising Shawn that he was willingly going to close to the son of Hades. Gus plucked the item out of Nico's hand and looked at it. His face morphed into worry, "Uh, guys? It's a snake scale."

"Probably a Black Mamba scale," Atalanta called out smartly from her place in the garage. She hadn't been too interested in what Nico found, and went off in a different direction to search for her own clues.

"What if the thing's still here?" Shawn heard Gus ask.

"Then Attie and me will kill it," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Attie and _I_," Gus corrected offhandedly. "But still, remember those Basilisks? Those were snakes."

"What happened to the 'Oh so brave Gus that totally killed the extremely poisonous, fire-breathing snake'?" Atalanta asked in a mockingly deep voice.

Gus glared at the girl for the mockery, "I _did_ kill it. That doesn't mean that I didn't need to change my underwear."

"Too much information," Shawn called out.

"Oh what's that?!" Atalanta asked cheerfully and ran over to something lying on the floor. Shawn turned towards her just in time to see the demigod picking up a piece of dead wheat. Who put wheat in a garage?

"Never mind," she called. "It's just... wheat."

She dropped the item on the floor and walked away from the dead plant. Shawn's observant eyes glanced around the area, stopping briefly when they caught sight of a small crack in the concrete, a dead yellowish stem sticking out of the ground. Shawn didn't think it important- it was probably the stem of the wheat.

But why was there wheat growing all the way up here?

Shaking his head, Shawn looked around to see that Nico and Atalanta finished their search already and was leaning against the Blueberry looking at him and Gus expectantly. Sweeping his eyes over the area one last time, he didn't see anything of importance.

"Now what?" Nico asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"We go to the next place," Shawn answered matter-of-factly. He flashed back to the autopsy room, the words printed on Woody's clipboard: _2132 Brink Drive_, "Bailey's house."

It was quiet for a moment, until Nico said, "So about this whole 'Psychic' thing..."

Shawn answered immediately, not even caring that he had just met the kid, "I'm not Psychic."

"What is this?" Atalanta huffed. "It took two whole days before you told me."

"I know that I can trust both of you now," Shawn explained. He turned around and locked his eyes with Nico's, "I'm not Psychic- but I pretend to be because... well, a few years ago, I would stay at home and watch the news. Just by reading people on the TV, I could tell whether they were guilty or not. I called in one too many times. Needless to say, I went to the station to collect my money and Lassie arrested me. He said that no one could solve the cases without being on the inside. The Psychic idea was off the top of my head and, well, I've been playing it ever since. It works."

"So you being a fake Psychic was all Lassie's fault?" Atalanta rose an eyebrow.

"What about your girlfriend? You told her, right?" Nico asked.

Shawn saw Gus glance at him from his peripheral vision, "Ah... no."

"That won't end well," Nico murmured under his breath. Speaking up, he asked, "So, who knows?"

Shawn counted on his fingers, "Well, me, Gus, you, Attie, my dad, my mom, _somehow_ Juliet's old boyfriend... that's it."

"Not bad at keeping secrets," Atalanta praised.

Shawn just smirked as he turned around in his chair. He wondered, not for the first time, if he would ever tell Juliet. It would probably break her heart- she believed that Shawn was Psychic from the beginning. She helped out on his hunches and even got the evidence he needed. To move the next step in their life, would Shawn need to tell?

Or would Shawn just keep lying to her?


	3. Eviiiiilllll

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Atalanta POV

They pulled up to a decent sized house- about two floors. There wasn't anything special about the outside, it was just a light shade of brown, with a none-too-special garden. Red cows as well as golden sun ceramics were placed around the house in no specific pattern.

"Is this even legal?" Atalanta asked as Nico gave her a boost into a recently opened window.

"No," Gus said at the same time Shawn said, "Of course!"

Rolling her eyes, Atalanta turned around and gave a nod of thanks towards Nico. The pale boy couldn't shadow travel, in fear of passing out when something goes wrong.

And something was bound to go wrong with two children of the Big Three hanging out in the mortal world.

Atalanta walked away from the window and towards the front door, sword ready if something decided to attack. Just quickly glancing in the house Atalanta could tell that the inside wasn't as homey as the outside. There was hardly any furniture, the walls were bare, and it looked recently moved into. After unlocking the door and letting Shawn, Gus, and Nico inside the house, they decided to split up.

Shawn and Gus immediately headed to the kitchen, claiming that their best clues were always in that part of the house. Atalanta had rolled her eyes- they just wanted the food. Nico took the upstairs while Atalanta checked all around the living room. If you could call it a living room.

There was an old TV, those ones with the box connected to the back of it, sitting on top of the coffee table which was pulled up close to the only chair in the area. A laptop sat on the seat of the chair, like the owner had thrown it off their lap in a rush to get up. A mini fountain was set up on one side of the room, a stone sun spewing water into the bowl. Maybe it was an easy way to Iris message?

Heading straight for the laptop, Atalanta moved the built in mouse around the screen, cursing when she saw that it was locked. She didn't know the password and after snooping awhile longer, couldn't find any hints about it. Turning towards the TV, Atalanta slid her hands in the VCR that was set up right under it, only to jump back in surprise when her fingers touched something cold. Pushing the lid back, she reached back in the VCR and pulled out a Celestial Bronze dagger.

Turning the object in her fingers, the word _Απόλλων_, meaning Apollo, was clearly written on the handle. Son of Apollo, then? That would explain all the suns and cows outside Bailey's house.

Before shouting her discovery to the rest of the people in the house, Atalanta walked over, dagger still clutched in her hand, to the fountain. She tilted her head to the side at the poorly carved scratch marks on the stone which obviously spelled a word. It wasn't Greek and, after staring at the fountain with squinted eyes for over a minute, Atalanta was able to decipher the word.

Chiron.

Atalanta's eyebrows shot up. This guy knew Chiron? Did he contact the centaur?

She wasn't able to dwell on it for too long, because Nico was shouting for everyone to come upstairs. Atalanta was the first in the room, followed by Shawn and Gus who both held a large amount of candy in their hands. She felt her stomach grumble at the sight.

Nico lifted up an intricately designed bow and quiver, stocked with at least forty arrows yet still looking small enough to carry on your back. There was a golden pattern on the quiver- looking like a tree of some sorts. It kind of looked like Thalia's tree.

"Bow and quiver," Nico stated the obvious.

"That's a bow and quiver?" Gus asked as he popped an M&M in his mouth. He squinted slightly, "It looks like a hat and cane- never mind."

Atalanta wondered why Shawn never had a problem with seeing Greek things for what they really were. She was leaning towards the fact that he had excellent eyesight- and might even be a mortal that saw through the mist.

Nico looked at her hands and rose an eyebrow, causing her to remember the dagger that she was still clutching. She held it up for the other two guys to see it, "I also found a dagger."

Nico tilted his head in order to read what was on the handle, "'Apollo.' So, I'm guessing he was a son of Apollo?"

"Explains a few things," Gus mumbled thoughtfully. "Apollo was- _is_ the god of the sun, he's a master at archery- as well as his twin sister Artemis- and his sacred animal is the red cow. It explains some of the decor." He pointed at the man's nightstand, which had the knob of a red cow.

"Yeah, we met some of his red cows," Atalanta smirked at Nico, who looked down bashfully. They were both thinking of their little trip to the Triple G. Ranch where they finally talked Nico into not hating them. After taking a tour of Geryon's farm and seeing all the sad and poorly treated animals he kept there. And after Percy shoveled some poop from the wild flesh eating horses.

Good times.

Both Shawn and Gus sent them confused looks, to which both demigods ignored. It was a story for another time.

Shrugging, Shawn turned his head back to the nightstand and walked over towards it when he noticed that it was slightly opened, like someone had recently been in there. Atalanta watched as he pulled the drawer open and his eyes widen in a comical way.

"Holy-" he murmured as he reached a hand in the drawer and shuffled something around. It sounded like coins clacking together.

Once Atalanta stood next to the fake psychic, she saw why.

About a dozen golden coins, each about the size of a Girl Scout cookie, were in a messy pile in the drawer. One side was stamped with Zeus' face, and the other had a picture of the empire state building. Atalanta recognized them immediately.

"How much would this be?" Shawn asked.

"Nothing, for mortals at least," She pointed out helpfully. "They're called Drachmas-"

"The currency of Ancient Greece," Gus stated as he too stood by the drawer. He picked one up and examined it in the light, "Pure gold, too."

"Nothing but pure gold for the gods," Nico murmured.

Shawn squinted at the coin, "Is that… the Empire State Building?"

Atalanta glanced at Nico. She was more than willing to tell Shawn and Gus her secret- now, of course- but telling them where Mount Olympus was is a different story. That was a secret she was just not willing to share.

So she shrugged, "Yeah, it's kinda known throughout the world- plus, our camp is in New York. The Empire State building is famous there."

Shawn rose an eyebrow at her, but Gus was nodding like it made complete sense. He carefully laid the coin back in the drawer, while Atalanta snatched one and tucked it away in her pocket. She grabbed another and tossed it to Nico who caught it with ease and stuffed it in his aviator jacket pocket.

"It might come in handy," She defended when Gus gave her a look. She glared at him, "At least I didn't eat the dead guy's candy."

"It would have gone bad anyway," Gus defended himself with a scowl. "It's not like there's anyone else here to eat it for him."

Atalanta stuck her tongue out at him in a childish way. She opened her mouth to retort; only the sound of something kicking the door down stopped her. Everyone looked at each other with wide eyes and before Atalanta could even think of a plan, Gus was already rushing to the bedroom window and pulling open. He froze once looking down. Well, they _were_ on the second floor.

"No time for second thoughts, buddy!" Shawn stated as he shoved his best friend out the window and jumped out after him. Atalanta ran to the window in panic which slowly eased once she looked out and saw that both men landed on some bushes- even if the landing didn't look too comfortable.

Atalanta spun around just in time to see Nico with a concentrated look as he melted into the shadows in the corner of the room. She quickly grabbed the bow and quiver and shoved them into the closet before stuffing herself in after and closing the doors just in time for two men to walk into the room.

The buffer of the two men was wearing all black- except for his dark green baseball cap covering his brown hair. His eyes were a light brown, looking almost gold, with a fit body and huge biceps. The other boy was extremely good looking- with a short sleeve blue shirt that hugged his body and simple blue jeans. He didn't have huge muscles nor was he wimpy, but he made that simple outfit look good. He had dirty blonde hair that fell right in front of his bright blue eyes. For a second, Atalanta thought that he was a son of Hermes but soon decided that he might be a child of Aphrodite. As soon as he entered Bailey's room, he began looking at himself in the body length mirror on Bailey's wall, straitening his shirt and moving his hair around.

"I already told you," The buffer man stated in annoyance. "He was a traitor. That's why-"

"How could he be a traitor?" The other guy asked. "Who would be stupid enough to… spy on her?"

"Apparently this guy was. But we're not here to talk about the idiot. We're here to raid the place- he's got some good weapons. And we have to be quick about it; he said that The Queen wanted us in and out."

Both men walked around the room looking for weapons. The buffer guy pulled out multiple daggers and swords hidden in multiple areas. Atalanta was pretty surprised to see so many weapons stashed in one area. Then she quickly thought about all the monsters the poor guy probably had on his back since he was an adult demigod living in the mortal world and it made sense. They emptied out all the Drachmas from the drawer and even pulled the red cow knob off of the drawer. When the buffer guy wasn't looking, Pretty boy stuffed some of Bailey's shoes and clothes in his bag.

Atalanta shrank back in the closet when the buffer guy reached his hand in, obviously trying to find more weapons. His fingers curled around the bow and quiver and he swiftly pulled them out before turning towards the other guy. She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Alright, that's enough. The police could be here any moment- let's go."

Both men left the room and Atalanta waited until she heard Shawn and Gus climbing up the stairs to crawl out of the closet. As soon as she stepped out, Nico stumbled out of the shadows, looking drowsy. He tripped over his own feet and, before he could fall to the floor, Atalanta caught him just in time.

Shawn walked into the room first and smiled when he saw the two demigods unharmed, "Good. You're okay."

Gus came in next, "What was that about."

Atalanta let her cousin lean against the bed, "Thanks for leaving us in here, by the way."

"Eh, you're fine," Shawn waved her off. "Now, what happened?"

Atalanta shrugged helplessly, "They mentioned something about 'The Queen.'"

"Gaea," Nico stated sleepily. "That's who- who they were talking about."

"Is he alright?" Shawn asked.

"He's fine," Atalanta answered as she slapped him lightly on the face. He blinked repeatedly, "Now, about Gaea-"

"She's literally the earth," Gus started to explain; "She's been around since the dawn of creation- the mother of all. She tricked Kronos into eating a rock instead-"

"Mother Earth is pretty much evil," Atalanta cut off Gus's rant. She didn't need to listen to the man ramble on about her new enemy.

Gaea. Gods, Atalanta could go very far without hearing Dirt Face's name. It just helped to remind her that her brother was still missing, Annabeth was a wreck, a Roman camp existed, she was part of a great prophecy-

Nico placed a hand on her shoulder when he realized that Atalanta was glaring harshly at nothing. She blinked and looked at her cousin before smiling apologetically. He gave her an encouraging nod and she shook her head, trying to clear it.

"Okay, now did you guys-"

"Hold up," Gus held his hands up, a look of horror on his face. "Don't you think I know all about Gaea? Like the fact that she pretty much hates the gods, and anyone who's on their side? That she'll pretty much _kill_ any of her enemies?" he sent a sharp look towards Shawn, "We _cannot_ get involved with this!"

Atalanta felt her insides freeze up in fear. No, they couldn't just leave her and Nico to figure everything out! She, believe it or not, needed the mortals! They were smart, she'll give them that, but they were also pretty skilled at not dying. Always a good skill to have.

"But," Atalanta stuttered, "you _can't_ back out! We need your help to catch this guy-"

"No, Shawn," Gus stated firmly when he saw his best friend open his mouth. "You've dragged me into too many life or death situations and I'm putting my food down on this one!"

Gus grabbed his best friend's arm and began walking towards the door. He only stopped when Nico murmured sleepily, "We could see ghosts."

Gus turned slowly, his look curious, "Ghosts?"

Nico nodded and forced himself to stand up without the need of the bed, "Yeah. And if you're a good boy, you might even be able to talk to the ghosts."

Even before Gus answered, Atalanta knew that they had him, hook, line, and sinker. No matter how much Gus hated life or death situations, he loved Greek Mythology.

Atalanta and Nico were just turning that love against him.

Shawn knew also that his friend wasn't going to leave the demigods, so decided to share his next clue, "Well, if we're done here, I know the next clue!"

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Shawn POV

While he and Gus were searching the kitchen, Shawn noticed a few crumpled up recites for _Abery's Coffee house _in the trash can. It wasn't the best clue he'd ever seen, but with this demigod case, Shawn would take anything.

They pulled up the Diner and filed out. As soon as Shawn stepped out of the car, the sweet smell of pastries filled his nose. A stomach growled and he turned his head towards Atalanta who gave him a sheepish expression and tapped her stomach. He wondered if she'd even eaten anything before coming to California.

Shawn turned towards Nico who looked more awake than at Bailey's house, but still drowsy. He still didn't know why the boy looked all sleepy all of a sudden, and hasn't found the time to ask.

They all walked into the Diner and immediately Atalanta asked for something to eat. Pastries preferred. She jammed a thumb in Nico's direction, requesting a cup of coffee for the pale boy.

Eh, they _were_ at a food place. Shawn pulled out Gus's credit card and bought everyone something. A Pineapple smoothie for himself, the sweetest pastry for Gus, a cup of the strongest coffee for Nico, and a piece of carrot cake for Atalanta.

The coffee was downed in minuets and Atalanta all but stuffed the carrot cake down her throat. Shawn gave amused glances at both demigods as he leisurely sipped his smoothie and looked around the Diner for an employee.

An eighteen year old waiter was walking away from the table he was serving and Shawn decided to talk to that kid. He looked like a typical high school worker- with a little amount of acne on his face, light brown hair, and bright blue eyes.

"Hey," Shawn glanced at the kid's name tag, "Dave."

Dave smiled, "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Actually yes. My name is Shawn Spencer, head Psychic for the SBPD and these are the Avengers. This is War Machine- he left his suit at home," he stated, pointing to Gus. "This is The Hulk. Don't make him angry," Nico, "and this is Thor. That god of thunder or whatever." He finished, pointing to Atalanta.

Dave rose an eyebrow, "Uh, okay?"

"We were wondering if you could tell us anything about Bailey Kindlewood," Gus stated.

Dave frowned, "Bailey? Yeah, he was a regular. I always served him his coffee. Why? Is he a suspect or something?"

"Uh... no," Nico scratched the back of his neck. "He's actually the victim here-"

"Bailey's... dead?" Dave asked slowly. "But, he didn't have any enemies. He had friends-"

"Friends?" Shawn asked.

"Oh, tons," Dave answered. "He came into the coffee house every day with a new person, sitting in the exact same place every time," he pointed to a vacant table in the corner of the Diner. "I never knew what they were talking about; they always got quiet when I came around. In fact, two of his friends came by two days ago asking for Bailey. I was getting worried myself- he hadn't come down for his coffee that day."

Shawn flashed back to the autopsy room.

_"I'm placing his time of death about… two days ago, around 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM."_

"They gave me this card," Dave continued as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a vanilla colored card and handed it to Shawn. He didn't even glance at the writing on it before handing it to Atalanta. "I guess I won't need it..." His voice trailed off.

"What did they look like?" Atalanta questioned quickly. "His friends, I mean."

Dave tapped his forehead, "I really don't remember. It was a busy day- I didn't think to remember features."

Nico groaned and grumbled something about this guy not being very helpful. A weird tint of red, purple, and orange flashed in Dave's eyes, before he composed himself.

"Is that it?" Dave asked. "Look, I'm real sorry about Bailey and everything, but I still have a job." He pointed to a table with three people sitting at it, "That's my table. Goodbye."

Dave turned around and walked into the kitchen area.

"I don't like him," Nico grumbled.

"You don't like anyone," Atalanta chuckled. She glanced at the card in her hands and frowned, "its cursive- I can't read it."

She handed it off to Gus who frowned, "You can't read cursive? It's a very important skill to-"

"I'm dyslexic."

"Oh," Gus stated, suddenly looking very awkward. He cleared his throat and looked at the card, "52nd Street."

"I guess that's our next place," Shawn stated.

Their little group walked the five blocks to get to 52nd street. Shawn didn't have high hopes in finding anything down there- Dave got the card two days ago. Plus, the 'friends' already found and killed Bailey. He just hoped that maybe the base of operations was somewhere around here.

But Shawn wasn't a very patient person. After about ten minutes of not finding anything, he was complaining, "There's nothing here."

It was about that time when he noticed that Nico was staring intently at something above Shawn's head. He turned and looked up at a telephone wire to see a crow perched up there. It's beady little eyes seemed to be staring right back at Nico.

"It's staring at me," he mumbled quietly, his hand slowly moving towards his skull ring.

Gus frowned as he too looked at the crow, "Crow's are very intelligent creatures. It's probably memorizing your face. Researchers believe that crows can remember human beings-"

"Yeah that's great," Atalanta stated, cutting him off as she took notice of the strange bird. "Now I need you to do us a big favor- don't speak."

Shawn, surprisingly, took her word very seriously. He snapped his jaw shut and watched the two demigods curiously. Atalanta nodded at Nico, who gave a very creepy grin before grabbing his skull ring and pulling it off his finger.

The crow squawked in alarm.

Then multiple things happened at once.

Before Shawn's eyes, a large dog like thing evolved from the seemingly harmless bird. The thing was pretty big- about the size of an average lion and looked like a hyena. It had a glossy black coat, huge paws with sharp claws, beady red eyes, a long tail, and a large sharp beak. Atalanta's sword sprang to life in her hands, and Nico flipped the ring in the air. A sword came back down; it looked a child's art project, painted black and extremely sharp. Gus and Shawn screamed a very girly scream while Nico yelled at them to get down. The hyena thing growled and pounced at Nico first, who swung his sword expertly. Of course the monster was quicker and dodged the attack, instead going towards Atalanta who slashed at the wings.

At that point, Gus was cowering behind a trash can, Shawn was fully lying on the ground, and people were screaming and running in random directions. Atalanta had explained something called the 'Mist' that shielded mortal's eyes from the Greek world. Well, these mortals seemed to see _something_ that had them in a panic.

"It's a Gryphon!" Nico cursed.

That couldn't be- Shawn always pictured Gryphon's as noble creatures with the head of an eagle and body of a lion. Didn't they protect pharaohs or something?

Nico ducked and rolled towards the Gryphon and stabbed at the things face. The monster hissed and went for a deadly strike to the son of Hades head with incredible speed. An attack that would have killed Shawn on instant was easily dodged by Nico and he used the closeness as an advantage to stab the thing in the eye.

Shawn wasn't sure what he was expecting- for the thing to turn to dust would have been good- but it definitely wasn't what happened next.

The thing squawked and wacked Nico to the ground with its massive black tail. It turned its red eyes towards Atalanta and, before Shawn could really process what was happening, swooped down and grabbed her biceps and lifted her off the ground. Atalanta cursed at it as she got higher and higher off the ground, twisting and turning in its massive claws while trying to slash at it with her sword.

By the time Nico recovered, the Gryphon was down the street about five stories high in the air. Nico yelled something in another language and chased after them.

Shawn and Gus looked at each other with wide eyes before running after them. Nico was like a marathon runner or something because in a few seconds, he was right under the monster with Shawn and Gus watching from a distance.

Shawn watched as Atalanta's sword suddenly slipped from her hands and landed on the ground with a loud clang. Nico didn't even pause.

"Bite it or something!" he shouted.

"Hades, no!" Atalanta growled. She wriggled around a bit more. Blood began seeping through her shirt.

"You have to do _something_!" Nico cried desperately.

"Shouldn't- you- be- able- to- catch up- to- them?" Shawn panted between breaths.

"That's stereotypical- and you- know- it, Shawn!" Gus huffed.

Shawn glanced up at a rooftop when he saw something shimmer in the light. A man stood on the rooftop of Wang's restaurant, a bright smile on his face. Shawn couldn't make out his features, because he had a black ski mask on. He glanced back towards the Gryphon and the two demigods. Could those things take orders?

"Nico!" Shawn shouted. "You- Stop!"

The pale boy made a very rude gesture with his hand and kept running. Shawn scowled slightly, wishing he wasn't so out of breath.

Atalanta had heard Shawn and glanced around the Gryphons large legs. She spotted the man on the rooftop who gave her a two finger salute before disappearing. She gulped, "Nico! Stop! Trap!"

"What?" He asked angrily, "Do you know what-"

"Nico!" She shouted harshly. "Solve the _stupid_ case and find me later!"

Eventually, Nico- though reluctantly- slowed down, allowing the Gryphon to get farther and farther away. The young demigod made a complete stop, not even breathing heavily, and continued to watch the massive creature disappear down the road. Shawn and Gus eventually caught up to Nico and all but collapsed to the ground.

His mind only comprehended one thing: Atalanta was gone.


	4. Ghosts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Shawn POV

"What do you mean 'gone'?!" Lassiter asked as he punched the interrogation table with his fist.

Soon after watching Atalanta disappear with the monster, no one really knew what to do. No leads, no real motivations, kinda depressed moods, so they decided that coming back to the police station would be their best bet. Lassiter wasn't making their moods any better, but the man really didn't have 'tact'.

"We _mean_ she was taken," Gus hesitated, "by a monster."

"A 'Gryphon'," Juliet checked.

"Yup," Shawn mumbled and glanced at Nico. The young boy had been especially moody, and Shawn wasn't really willing to make him angry or upset him further.

"What's your plan, now?" Lassiter demanded. He glared at Shawn, "Because demigod or not, a young girl was _kidnapped_ under your watch. We don't have _any_ leads, and she could be dying-"

"Carlton," Juliet snapped as she grabbed her partner roughly by his arms. "Let's not forget some things Attie told us. She _can_ hold her own."

"Plus, they won't kill her right away," Nico grunted. "Gaea is carful, but demigods can get cocky. They won't think Atalanta can do anything under their watch. Sometimes, she can be smarter than she looks."

"So you think she can escape on her own," Gus asked hopefully. "We won't need to-"

"Of course we need to find her, Gus," Shawn snapped. He was feeling terrible about the whole situation, but at the same time, knew that Atalanta was strong. And a demigod that was used to these types of things, "We can't just leave her to Gaea."

"Who's Gaea?" Lassiter asked with a frown. "A drug dealer, or something?"

"Not exactly," Nico rubbed the back of his neck. "How do I put this? She's the earth. Like, dirt, I guess. Evil dirt. The mother of the gods- a really old titan."

"She's against the gods," Gus started explaining. "They lulled her to sleep centuries ago when she tried to enslave the human race." He glanced at Nico, "Apparently she's awakening."

The silence hung in the air like a plague. Nico bit his lip and looked at the table, like he was thinking about something really terrible.

Lassiter pinched the bridges of his nose and grumbled something under his breath. He looked at Shawn, "Okay. We have a kidnapped demigod out there. Got any leads, Spencer."

Shawn flashed back to the man that was grinning on the roof of Wang's.

Placing a hand on his temple, because Shawn didn't feel like making a big show, he began, "I see… cats! Oh, Gus, why are they eating cats?!"

"Cats?" Juliet asked in horror.

"Rice being wrapped up with… eels!" Shawn continued as he mimicked using chopsticks. He opened his eyes to stare at his hands, like something was controlling him and he was trying to figure out what they were saying.

"Are those chopsticks?" Nico asked.

"A Chinese place?" Gus continued.

He held up five fingers, "Five." He changed them to two, "Two."

"52nd street?" Lassiter asked. "There's a place called 'Wang's' down there."

Shawn pointed to Lassiter and placed another finger on his nose, meaning that he'd guessed right. "Okay, people, let's go," he stated.

Their little group was standing on top of the Wang's restaurant, looking for any clues- really, anything- that could get them going in the right direction. Gus held a Chinese box with noodles and beef lo mein. Shawn held his box in hand- noodles and chicken lo mein. Even though the food was great, his mind was elsewhere.

They'd been standing on the roof only for a few minutes, and Shawn couldn't help but be antsy. One clue, just one, was all he needed. He found himself praying to the gods that they'd find something- and that it would bring them closer to the base of operations.

Nico kept running his pale hand through his messy hair, his obsidian eyes darting around at almost anything that moved. Shawn remembered Atalanta mentioning that plenty of monsters would like to eat her because her dad was Poseidon. Was it the same with Nico? Just because his dad was Hades were monsters constantly looking for him? Did that mean that _they_ were constantly in danger of being eaten by monsters?

Shawn stopped his pessimistic thoughts when he saw Gus look up from his food for a split second before looking back down. His body froze as he slowly looked up again. He gulped down his food and stared at something, his eyes wide and lips parted slightly.

Shawn, noticing this, walked up to his friend and clasped him on the shoulder, "You okay, man?"

He pointed a shaky finger towards something and the fake psychic followed his finger to a bright red Jeep, "Is that… an arm?"

Shawn squinted at the object. An arm was awkwardly propped up against the back window, "Nah, that can't- maybe…"

Gus looked like he was going to throw up his lo mein.

Less than ten minutes later and Lassiter was staring at a dead woman. She was pretty, with elfish features, high cheekbones, short black hair, and brown eyes so brown they looked black. Shawn's eyes scanned her body till they landed on her neck. There was an imprint going all around her neck that was kind of uneven like a rope that was wrapped around multiple times. Probably the cause of death.

Shawn looked around and saw Gus silently eating his food from a distance. Lassiter and Juliet were looking at the body while Nico stood next to Shawn. The kid's been so quiet, Shawn almost forgot that he was there.

"Demigod?" Shawn guessed.

Nico nodded, "Yeah but I don't know which god."

"Doesn't matter right now," he gestured towards the front of the car, "Let's see what else we find."

Shawn and Nico walked up to the front of the car, quickly glancing behind him to see if Lassiter and Juliet were watching. They were still examining the body so Shawn pressed his face against the glass and squinted to see. Nothing really stuck out- besides a plant on the dashboard. The top half of wheat.

Shawn flashed back to the garage.

_Shawn turned towards her just in time to see the demigod picking up a piece of dead wheat._

That couldn't be a coincidence.

Gus, seeing that they weren't near the body, walked over to the two, "Now what?"

"Dude, we just found the body," Shawn peeled his eyes away from the wheat. "We can't do anything till we see Woody. Well, we could but I'm not really sure where to start."

"You have _nothing_?" Nico asked.

"I don't see _you_ coming up with anything," Shawn shot back.

"You guys got anything?" Lassiter asked as he walked up to them.

"Yeah, she's a demigod," Shawn mumbled.

"I got that," Lassiter pressed his lips in a thin line and glanced at Nico. "And I really don't know if we can solve this case."

Shawn was thinking the same thing.

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Once again, the team was standing around the cold metal table with an equally cold body lying on top of it. Nico was staring at the dead woman's face, probably trying to figure out whose daughter she was. He already mentioned that she looked familiar, someone from the past maybe? Shawn knew that the only way to figure out her parentage would be if Nico told them.

"Her name was Lillian," Woody stated, "Lillian Trotter. See these marks?" he pointed to her neck, "Looks like ropes right? Well, they're not! After swabbing a sample of the skin, it seemed to contain some traces of wheat. Now, I'm not really sure how you could strangle someone with wheat, but it looks like that's how she died."

Shawn bit his lip, thinking about the pieces of wheat he'd found at both crime scenes. He remembered the child of Dionysus that could control the growth of grape vines, using them to kill their victims. He wondered if this murdering demigod had a similar power.

Lassiter glared at Woody just because that's what he does, "Do we know anything else about this woman?"

"That's the interesting part," Woody hummed. "According to file, Lillian Trotter died over twenty years ago."

"An alias?" Juliet asked.

He shrugged, "Well, I pulled up some of her pictures and… she either had a twin or they are the exact same person. Right down to the shape of her nose."

"How'd she," Nico paused, "die?"

Woody glanced down at a piece of paper, "She was driving in her car when a blast of lightning struck the hood. The car veered off the road and she died on impact."

"Lightning?" Nico gulped.

"Yup," He laughed for some weird reason. "Chances of that happening are _really_ low. Like lower than low."

Lassiter looked at Nico, whose shoulders were tense as he stared at the woman on the table, and ordered Woody to leave the room. Once the four of them, five counting the dead person, were alone Lassiter asked, "What are you thinking?"

It seemed like Nico didn't hear the question, but when Lassiter opened his mouth to ask again, he spoke, "Nemesis."

"Goddess of revenge," Gus pointed out.

"How does that help us?" Lassiter asked, clearly loosing whatever patience he had. And that's considering that Lassiter didn't have much patience to begin with.

"Just thought I'd tell you," Nico grit his teeth, clearly trying to keep his anger in check. "And she's… well there's no easy way to put this… but she came back to life."

Gus took an enormous step back.

"What?" Juliet asked after a long silence.

Nico pinched the bridges of his nose, "Short story: Gaea can bring people back to life because I'm pretty sure that she's controlling the doors of death. But let's not get into details about that," he added quickly as Gus opened his mouth. "Point is: she escaped the underworld. I don't think she was in the Fields of Punishment, probably of Asphodel, but she wanted revenge on the gods. That lightning thing? Pretty sure Zeus did that for whatever reason. Maybe he was mad."

Suddenly, Shawn was thinking about his nightmares that he didn't remember. _Doors of death…_

One glance at Juliet and he knew that she was thinking the same thing.

"She died and came back to life?" Shawn asked. Nico nodded and Shawn turned to Gus, "Dude, we're in the presence of a dead ghost."

Gus glared at Shawn; clearly it wasn't the time to celebrate.

Lassiter took a deep breath, in the nose and out the mouth. Juliet placed a hand on her partners shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He glanced at everyone in the room before walking out. Juliet gave them an apologetic smile, "Sorry. He just needs some time."

Shawn waved him off, "It's okay. You should go too, Jules. I know how hard this must be."

Juliet gave him a tiny smile before following in Lassiter's footsteps and walking out the door of the autopsy room. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for both of them. They just couldn't accept the world of the Greek gods.

"Plan?" Nico asked as he rubbed his temple.

Shawn could honestly admit that he had no plan whatsoever. What did he do when he didn't have a plan?

"Let's go visit my old man!"

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

The quiet in the car allowed Shawn to think about what Nico had said about the Doors of Death. He had no idea what they were, and decided that asking Nico could prove helpful.

"The Doors of Death are in the underworld," Nico stated. "Thanos is the god responsible for keeping them shut and not allowing monsters to come back into the mortal world once demigods kill them. They always escape, of course, but lately... I don't know. They've been coming back faster, some even right after they die. My father has been really tense lately, and I think something's wrong with the Doors. I think Gaea is in control of them."

"That's really bad," Gus stated, his voice clearly frightened. "The Doors keep monsters in Tarterus. If they're being controlled by Gaea then she'll get to choose who's coming in and who's coming out." His face morphed into worry, "There are monsters down there that are... ancient. More powerful than half the monsters out there _now_."

"And she can bring them back to create an army," Shawn summed up. "Wow... you demigods are in some deep-"

"When's this happening?" Gus asked.

"The war?" Nico furrowed his eyebrows. "We don't know, but our prophecy kinda begun already. And that was roughly five months ago."

"Prophecy?"

"Riddles about the future given to us by our Oracle," Nico clarified. "This one was about the Prophecy of Eight. _Eight half-bloods shall answer the call-_"

Shawn bolted up in his seat, back ramrod straight, "_To storm or fire, the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death._"

There was silence in the car. Shawn was surprised himself- it was like Nico saying that first line acted as a trigger for a gun Shawn didn't know was full. He had no idea where the lines came from.

"Yeah," Nico said slowly. "How did you know that?"

Shawn shrugged helplessly, "I have no clue."

"Those were the lines to a Great Prophecy. _How_ do you not know where they came from?"

"Shawn," Gus said gently, "how did-"

"I don't know!" Shawn exploded, suddenly angry. "They just came out!"

Nico put his hands up in surrender and regarded Shawn curiously, "Doesn't matter, right now. We should focus on the case- and getting Attie back."

Both men nodded, directing their attention to the problem at hand. But Shawn still had his mind wondering to the whole Doors of Death problem. Atalanta mentioned complications earlier; he didn't expect them to be this bad. The dead coming back to life, monsters constantly coming back from Tarterus, Gaea rising... end of the world type things.

His train of thought came to a halt when Gus parked the Blueberry in Henry Spencer's driveway. Nico already gave Shawn his permission to tell his dad about the Greek gods, but he still wasn't sure about how it was going to go down. Henry was stubborn, and he may or may not accept the Greek world. He may not even believe a single thing Shawn tells him. But they needed help with the stupid case, so Shawn was going to have to try.

Walking up to the door, Shawn pushed the doorbell and waited a few seconds. When his father didn't answer, he rang again. And again. And again. And again, until the door finally swung open.

Handy Spencer stood at the doorway in all his bald glory. He was scowling at Shawn for ringing the doorbell more than once, but all Shawn did was give him a big grin and wave. The older man looked over Shawn and Gus before moving to Nico with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey dad," Shawn greeted as he shoved past his father and made his way to the kitchen. "I could really use a beer. You have beer? Stupid question: of course you do."

Gus, on the other hand, nodded politely at Henry, "Hello, Mr. Spencer."

"Gus," Henry acknowledged with a nod. He looked at Nico when the pale boy followed Gus to the kitchen. "Who's this?"

"Nico Di Angelo," Nico introduced. "Nice to meet you."

Henry nodded and turned to his son who was chugging some beer, "Alright, what's the case?"

Nico snorted against his will and leaned against the counter, "You do this often?"

Shawn ignored the kid, "It's real complicated, pops."

Henry tilted his head to the side, "You're admitting that you need my help? Shawn, I need a video camera."

"Real funny, dad," Shawn rolled his eyes. "But seriously, there's something... you need to know first."

"What did you do now?"

"I didn't do anything," Shawn whined.

"You do know that Lassiter was looking for that kid not too long ago, right?" Henry asked as he pointed to Nico who decided that he could help himself to some Hershey's Chocolate. He looked up when the room got quiet to see everyone looking at him and Henry pointing.

He swallowed the chocolate in his mouth, "What?"

"Oh, he's a genius," Henry commented with slight sarcasm.

Nico scowled, "Are you insulting me?"

"Dad, this case involves something, and I need you to listen carefully," Shawn stated, trying to get his father's attention off the son of Death.

It worked. "What is it, Shawn?"

Shawn motioned for Gus to tell, to which he rolled his eyes to, "The Greek gods exist."

"I'm sorry, what?" Henry asked with slight disbelief.

"The Greek gods exist," he repeated, slower this time.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said," Henry walked over to the fridge and grabbed a beer. Popping it open, he took a long sip, "Now, if you're done _wasting_ my time, I need to put some ice on my wound."

"We're not kidding," Nico stated as he tore off a large piece of chocolate from his second bar. "And this case involves demigods. Children of a god and a mortal."

"I know what demigods are," Henry snapped. "I also know what Greek Mythology is. Myths, and nothing more."

"They're real," Shawn insisted. "They exist, along with all the monsters."

"Shawn, we're done here," Henry glanced at the chocolate eating demigod. "This kid is eating all my chocolate."

Nico smirked at Shawn's dad and slowly took a huge bite of his third bar. Henry scowled and gave Shawn a look that clearly meant that this wasn't okay.

"The sooner you believe us the sooner we can get Nico away from the Hershey's," Shawn took a step towards his father. "I know you don't believe us, and I guess there's good reason not to-"

"-You're talking about _Greek gods_-"

"-but we can prove it," he glanced at Nico with a raised eyebrow. Shawn didn't even know how the kid could prove it, but Nico just shrugged and nodded his head- apparently he could.

"I just need a couple of shovels, soda, and hamburgers- without the bun," Nico explained as he tore the wrapper for his fourth bar. "Gods, I'm hungry," Nico mumbled under his breath.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up," Henry held his hands in the air. "I don't know what you're planning, but a shovel usually involves digging. And that probably involves my yard. Nope, you are _not_ digging a hole in my yard."

"Someone died," Shawn grumbled in exasperation. "Two someone's. And the only way you'll be on the same page is if you see whatever Nico needs to do. Come on, dad."

Henry took a deep breath and pinched the bridges of his nose. After at least a minuet of thinking, he nodded slightly. They could show him.

Nico clasped his hands together and allowed a grin to spread across his face, "Well, let's get started."

Henry began cooking the burgers on the back porch while he glared at Nico. The young demigod was using a shovel and defacing his beautiful yard. Shawn and Gus were nowhere in sight, claiming that they needed to use the bathroom as soon as Nico tried handing a shovel to Shawn. 'Not together, of course,' Gus had stated.

Nico just rolled his eyes and dug the hole himself, glancing up at the older man once in awhile. After a few minutes, he couldn't take the staring so the next time he looked up, Nico put on the fiercest glare he could. Needless to say, Henry stared at the burgers till they were cooked the hole was done.

Shawn and Gus came out the door the exact moment Nico shoveled up the last of the dirt. They pretended to look disappointed, even go as far as asking why Nico hadn't left them any dirt to shovel. Nico had glared at them as well.

Soda in hand and burgers on a plate next to him, Nico stood at the edge of the hole. He looked up at the sky and smiled up at the stars. He turned to Shawn, Gus, and Henry, "Now, you guys might want to take a couple steps back."

After shuffling a safe distance away, Nico nodded. He popped open the soda can and-

-poured it into to the hole.

"Hey!" Henry growled as he took a few steps towards the demigod. "What are you doing? That's my money you're wasting!"

Nico turned his head sharply towards Henry, "Don't come too close." He then threw the meat in the hole.

By then, Shawn's dad was fuming and cursing up a storm while Nico just smiled and waved him off. Once Henry calmed down and came back next to Shawn, Nico lifted his hands, palms up, and murmured, "Let the dead taste again. Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember." Moving his hands up and down, he began chanting in another language.

Immediately, the chirping of the bugs, something usually deafening during the night, silenced. Birds were heard no longer. The hairs on the back of Shawn's neck stood up, and it was all he could do not to whimper. Gus did whimper. _Something_ was going on here- something unnatural.

Shawn spared a glance to his left at his father who just had his arms crossed while he stared at Nico curiously. Shawn wondered if he believed them now, because he did not want to keep standing there for even another minuet.

To his right, Gus gasped. Shawn whipped his head around to see a transparent figure floating in front of Nico right above the hole. It was talking to Nico.

And it was a _ghost_.

Not just any ghost- _Albert Einstein_.

Gus, the last person Shawn would think to go anywhere near Nico at a time like this, ran forward. He tripped over his own feet in a rush, and froze mid-step when Nico yelled at him to stop.

"Meet Albert Einstein," Nico stated softly, his voice fragile.

"That man is dead," Henry stated monotonously from his spot next to Gus. When he had moved was beyond Shawn, but that left him the farthest away from all the action. _I'm no coward_, he thought bravely as he walked up to his best friend and dad.

Though his legs felt like lead.

"Uh, yeah," Nico cleared his throat. "I can do that."

"He's a demigod, dad," Shawn murmured.

Henry locked his jaw and turned his head to glare at his son, "Thanks for stating the obvious."

With a yawn, Nico dropped his hands down at his sides. The image of Albert Einstein disappeared almost instantly, which made the bugs start chirping again all at once. All that lay there was the last of the soda disappearing into the earth, and a half eaten burger lying at the bottom of the hole. They stood outside for a few more moments before wordlessly walking back into the house.

"What are you?" Henry demanded once everyone was sitting on the couch.

Nico gave him a sleepy smile, "Why, I'm Nico Di Angelo: son of Hades. Thirteen year old demigod."


	5. Oh, gods

**This chapter contains slight spoilers for Psych season 7 episode 7 _Deez Nups_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Shawn POV

After explaining everything about what had happened with the case so far, Henry leaned back on the couch and locked his fingers behind his head.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, "So, all the Greek gods exist?"

Nico face palmed. That had been the fifth time Henry asked the question. Leaning forward he answered, "Okay, for the _last time_, no. At one time, yes, but after many, many, _many_ years, some faded away when what they stood for in the world faded as well. Take Pan for instance. He was protector of the wild- but so much of the wild has been polluted and destroyed by humans. He... he faded away about three years ago."

Nico spoke as if he had witnessed the god's death.

There was a long pause before Shawn's dad asked, "Does Aphrodite exist?"

"...Yes."

"Could you tell her to stop screwing with my relationships?"

Nico raised an amused eyebrow while Shawn quickly tried to get everyone back on task. Talking about his father's relationship wasn't even the last thing he wanted to do. It was about a billion after the last.

"So we got this far, and reached a dead end," Shawn stated miserably. "Demigod cases suck."

"I'm not going to argue with you there," Nico chimed in. "Demigods are not meant to be caught by the police- so they're really good at covering their tracks. Using Celestial Bronze weapons or using their demigod powers to commit the crimes makes it near impossible to solve."

"Then don't," Henry snapped. He turned his head towards Shawn, "Shawn, if the demigod is saying that the case is near impossible then leave it be. You could get hurt, involving yourself with this. Leave it- and I can't believe I'm saying this- to the gods."

"But that's just it," Nico growled before Shawn could respond. "The gods won't do anything! They lost contact with us, just because Zeus is a big headed-"

He froze mid word when a huge thunderclap shook the house. Nico flinched and glared at the ceiling before mumbling an apology.

The other occupants in the room however, were gripping onto their seats for dear life, completely sure that they were about to die. When a few silent moments went by, Shawn was the first to open his eyes. He was only slightly convinced that the king of the gods was going to blast the house with lightning.

"Watch what you say!" Gus nearly shouted. "We could die just because you say something that pisses off Zeus." He looked at the ceiling apologetically, "His sincerest apologies, Lord Zeus."

The sound if a soft rumble in the sky was the only thing that had Shawn not look at his friend like he'd lost it.

"See? This is what I mean," Henry snapped. "What's stopping the gods from zapping you? A mortal? Or the demigods from kidnapping you and making you into a hostage like this 'Atalanta' girl?"

"Nothing, dad," Shawn pinched the bridges of his nose. "But I'm willingly trying to solve this case and get Attie out."

"Which is what I don't get. You wouldn't even build a doghouse when you were younger-"

"You probably knew I wouldn't-"

"Not the point-"

"Gods!" Nico shouted, causing Shawn and Henry to look at him. "We're so off topic! We came to get help with the case, not talk about the risks involved! We'll be here all night! And I'm tired!"

"Nico's right," Gus decided as he rubbed his head. "We came because we hit a dead end. We'd really appreciate it, Mr. Spencer, if you could help us."

Henry glared at Gus, causing the man to shrink down slightly in his seat, "What so you want me to say? From what I've heard, retracing steps isn't going to work- what with one victim coming back from the _dead_ and the other working at secret place you're trying to find. Going forward seems like your only option. Why not check the dead girl's house?"

"That's your advice?" Shawn deadpanned. "We just relieved the secret of demigods to you... and that's your advice?"

"You came to me, didn't you?" Henry huffed. "That means you couldn't come up with it yourself. Shawn... you're losing your touch."

Shawn stood up and scowled at his father, "I am not losing my touch! With all these confusing things mixed into the case, my head-"

"Can we go now?" Nico whined. "I'm so tired after, you know, summoning a ghost."

"Fine," Shawn snapped as he pulled on his coat and began walking toward the door with his friends hot on his heels. "We're going to the Psych office to crash."

"Again?" Gus sighed. "Can't the kid get the floor?"

"I'd just fight you for the couch," Nico reasoned as they piled into the Blueberry. Henry stood on the porch, leaning against one of the pillars and watching as they pulled away. Shawn gave his dad a two finger salute as they left.

_We got this_, was all Shawn could repeat in his head as they drove towards the office. _We got this, we got this, we got this._

_Hopefully._

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Atalanta POV

Atalanta pounded on the steel doors that kept her in the stuffy room. More like a cell. With the walls and floor being made of concrete, Atalanta decided that it should rather be called that.

It had been at least a day- really a few hours but to a bored ADHD demigod it felt like days- in the stupid place and no one had taken her to pee. And she really needed to go.

After the Gryphon carried her off and away from Nico and the other guys, it wasn't even that long of a flight to get to an open field. When they landed, well the Gryphon pretty much just unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, almost immediately she was on guard with her sword out and ready for an attack.

Let's clarify that: she was ready for an attack by _people_.

What she hadn't expected was for the overgrown grass to wrap around her legs and bind her into place. She still wasn't sure whether or not it was a demigod who had done it or some type of monster because she could swear that the grass started whispering.

Before she could even think about calling on the water beneath her to come to her aid, something pricked her skin. Looking down at her hand, she saw a silver dart sticking out.

Mumbling a curse in Greek, she drifted off to an unwanted slumber.

When she woke, Atalanta was laying on her back on the cold cement floor of her cell. It had been Hades at first as she banged on multiple walls, threw all the curses she knew in Greek, and insulted someone's mother before she calmed down enough to think. She tried calling on the water from dirt or something, but there just wasn't any for her to reach. Her demigod powers could only reaches so far into the earth.

And considering earth meant Gaea, it didn't go very far.

It was a few hours and no one burst through the door to her rescue or even a guard to come and visit. That was probably smart- she was thoroughly pissed.

Now, though, she really needed to use the bathroom. Not only to pee, but also to Iris message someone. The Drachma from Bailey's house was still in her pocket, begging to be used.

"I gotta pee!" Atalanta shouted as her pounding continued. "Seriously! There's no toilet or- gods forbid- bucket in here! And if you think I'm going on the floor than you've got another thing coming!"

She knew that they could very well leave her alone to wet her pants or get a bladder infection, but were actually merciful enough to open the door.

An extremely buff guy with a sword was standing in front of Atalanta and she stumbled back when the steel suddenly slid open. The guy had to be a son of Ares, because his biceps were bigger than her head.

"You're allowed to go," he stated in an extremely deep voice. "But just remember where you are- and that there's no funny business."

Atalanta shrugged and walked in front of the man that held the very pointy sword at her back. It wasn't like she couldn't take the guy out, because she totally could, but she really _couldn't_ get out. The place seemed underground- again; Gaea's turf- and Atalanta doubted that there were only a few traitor demigods at her disposal. Nope, Atalanta needed to wait this out, and take her bathroom break.

She was directed to yet another completely cement room, but this one was about the size of a porta potty. She crinkled her nose in distaste as the door slammed closed and she was left about three feet away from the toilet.

Atalanta fingered the Drachma in her pocket before pulling it out. She thanked the gods when she saw that the toilet had water in it, and she wouldn't need to create her own. Pulling her sword out, she tilted it in a whole bunch of different angles before a small glow illuminated the small mist she had created and made a rainbow. Quickly tossing the Drachma in, she made a quick decision.

"Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood," she whispered.

Yes, she wanted to call Nico and tell him that she was all good, but knew that he already knew that. He would be able to sense it if she died. And besides her interesting story about being dragged in a cell for hours with nothing to do, there really wasn't much to talk about. And she really needed to talk to Chiron about Bailey.

It's been bothering her ever since she'd seen his name carved into the stone fountain at his house.

Chiron popped up suddenly, and he obviously wasn't expecting her. She didn't know what time it was, but by the look of Chiron's tail being in curlers, she'd say just about bedtime.

She stifled her laughter as his eyes widened in a comical way. His tail flicked back and forth as he trotted to show the discomfort he was in.

"Atalanta," he greeted with a nod as he composed himself. "Where are you? You were absent all day."

"Uh... California," she answered meekly, mindful to keep her voice low.

"Uh huh," he stated, barley looking surprised at her revelation. But something in his facial expression did change, and Atalanta knew that only Annabeth would know what it meant. "What are you doing down there?"

Atalanta explained all she could with the little time she had. By the end of it, Chrion was looking really worried, which of course, worried Atalanta.

"You must get out of there," he finally said. "This is a risk far too great for you to handle."

"Too great for me to handle?" Atalanta asked with a frown. "Yet me being part of the eight demigod teenagers to go save the world isn't risky?"

"_Five more minutes_," the Iris message beeped.

"You do not understand," Chiron stated sadly. "Bailey was undercover trying to figure out as much information on the Doors as possible. He knew the risks and unfortunately isn't with us anymore."

_Way to brighten my day_, Atalanta grumbled in her head.

Out loud she said, "Well I'm definitely not going to spy on her. I'm kinda prisoner."

"You should not have gone to California at all," he continued. "This is where-"

"Yeah, well, I'm here now and can't really go back in time, now can I?" Atalanta snapped. It was getting too hot in the little porta potty place and she was moody from doing nothing but think all day. "Just... I don't know... tell me what to do!"

Chiron sighed, "Nothing. For now, there is truly nothing you can do." His deep brown eyes gazed at her sea- green ones, "But there is one thing you should know. Gaea can't stay in one area for too long without help. Bailey was able to gather information about a machine created by a Hephaestus demigod in order to contain her and give her energy. When Nico gets you out, be sure to find the machine and destroy it. She will not be able to be in stay for too long without using too much energy."

Atalanta was glad he said 'when'.

The Iris message began to fade, so she bid her goodbye and watched as the mist died all the way out. Heaving a huge sigh she went to the bathroom and allowed the guard to guide her back the boring cell she was slowly going mad in.

Nico better hurry up.

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Shawn POV:

The first thing Team Psych did when they woke up was drive to Lillian's house.

Her house wasn't the largest one Shawn's seen. It also wasn't the prettiest. Maybe she didn't spend too much time there- you know, too busy making evil plans with the earth to take over the world and such. No garden, yellowing grass, white exterior; that pretty much summed it up.

Nico looked at the small place, "How'd you even know where she lived?"

"Her information was on a clipboard at Woody's office," Shawn stated as he walked under the lowest window which was still pretty high up. "Now, we need to get in this place. Gus, let me on your back."

"What? No, Shawn! I have a back problem."

"Stop complaining."

"Why don't we try the front door?" Nico suggested.

"Pft, they never leave the front door open," Shawn waved the idea off. "Besides, this is more fun."

Gus grudgingly allowed Shawn to climb on his back after a few more minutes of persuasion. Gus stumbled once all of Shawn's weight- which is not much mind you- was on his back and managed to slam against the house's wall which effectively slammed Shawn's head against it as well. Nico watched with an amused expression.

Once the duo steadied themselves, Shawn hooked his fingers on the window's sash and tugged on it with all his strength. It didn't even budge and Shawn was left breathing heavily as he glared at the window.

"It's no use," he shouted down at Nico and Gus.

"Switch," Nico demanded.

Once Gus let Shawn off his back, taking overdramatic deep breaths from having Shawn on his shoulders, he allowed the small boy to take his place. One tug on the window and it flew open.

"I loosened it," Shawn grumbled.

Nico sent him an entirely too smug look before crawling inside the house. "Go to the door," they heard him shout. They waited for the door to swing open to find Nico on the other side with a scowl on his face, "It was already open."

They entered the house without much caution- besides Nico, of course. Lillian's house looked more boring on the inside than the outside. White walls, hardwood floors, a tiny TV set up on a coffee table, and two lawn chairs. There was nothing in the fridge- he checked- and Shawn wondered if Gaea's people came and raided the place like they did to Baileys.

As Nico and Gus split off to search the rest of the small place, Shawn examined some pictures that hung on the walls- there weren't that many. There was one with Lillian and what looked like her BFF, a girl with short, wavy, brown hair that stopped right above her shoulders. Her eyes were bright green and she wore a wide smile, her arm casually slung around Lillian. The girl wore dark red rose earrings, hardly any makeup, and was fit with a floral shirt. Another picture showed the same mystery girl leaning proudly against a black 2008 Chevrolet Suburban. _Nice car_, Shawn thought distractedly. There was an image of a dog on its back looking like it really wanted a treat. Whose dog that was, Shawn had no idea. It didn't look like Lillian had any pets. Shame really- the place needed a goldfish, at _least_. His eyes flickered to look at the last picture- A guy's arms wrapped around a laughing Lillian with his head cut off at the top. The only thing Shawn noticed was a gold watch looking strangely familiar on the man's right hand.

Flashback to the projection at the Police station.

_He didn't have many items on his person, but there was a nice gold watch wrapped around his right wrist._

Shawn bit his lip as a piece of the puzzle fell into place. So, Lillian and Bailey had a thing going. Maybe they weren't allowed to date.

A loud crash interrupted Shawn's musings followed by a string of what were probably curses and a yelp of 'sorry.'

"That was my foot!" Nico growled.

"Sorry!"

_CRASH_

"Stop helping!"

Shawn laughed when he pictured Gus's terrified face as he was being yelled at the child of death himself. Especially after everything that happened at Henry Spencer's house, the whole talking to ghosts thing, him and Gus were slightly unsettled by Nico. They didn't know how… dangerous he was till they saw him talking to Albert Einstine.

A ringing in his pocket brought Shawn back to the present. He glanced at the ID and smiled.

"Jules!"

"Shawn, we need you to come in."

"Am I in trouble?"

"We may have a new lead and the Chief wants you to look at it."

"The Chief knows about the case?" Shawn asked in surprise.

"You weren't the first to look at the case, Shawn. Nico was found on a dead body and brought in for questioning."

"Does she know about…" he trailed off, leaving the unspoken question hanging in the air.

"No," Juliet hesitated, "But she wants this wrapped up as quickly as possible."

"Does she know that I lost a kid?"

"As far as she knows, Attie wasn't even here."

"Thanks Jules," Relief colored Shawn's tone. "You know, we should go on a date soon. I need a breather."

"In the middle of the case?" Juliet asked.

"Yes," he nodded, even if she couldn't see, "I'm thinking Italian."

Juliet's laugh flooded through the speaker, relaxing Shawn's shoulders slightly, "Alright Shawn. You make the plans and we'll see what happens. Now, come down to the station."

"We'll be there ASAP," he hung up after making some kissing sounds in the phone.

Shawn took a deep breath. Taking Juliet out to dinner should make him feel at least a little better. This case was stressing him out- starting from the Gryphon attack. It just built up since then. He couldn't really explain it, but it felt as if someone or some_thing_ was watching them at all times.

"Guys! The Chief needs our valuable assistance!" Shawn shouted up the upstairs.

Gus and Nico soon appeared at the bottom of the steps- the former looking slightly worried and the latter looking slightly angry.

Because there was a taco place only a few blocks away from the station, Shawn and Gus reasoned that they could stop to eat. Nico didn't protest much to the idea, especially after his stomach growled at the mention of food. Plus, the kid looked like he could eat a good taco. Seriously, he was _so_ skinny.

They parked the Blueberry at _Del Taco_, bought food, and decided to walk to the station. It was a nice day and Shawn was glad to just take a deep breath of fresh air as he inhaled his food. Gus did the same while Nico nibbled on his taco without much enthusiasm. His brain was probably on other matters anyway.

As they turned around a corner, Shawn immediately felt someone's eyes on him. He shuddered slightly and nonchalantly looked around the area. A hotdog vender was handing a woman a hotdog with extra mustard, two children were dragging their father into an ice-cream store, a jogger ran by Gus and jostled his taco hand making it slam into his face, and across the street a delivery guy was talking on his phone with a package under his arm while he stared at them. Shawn gulped down his bite and nudged Nico.

"Don't look now, but a delivery guy is staring at us."

Nico turned his head to look at the man making Shawn huff in annoyance. Immediately, Nico's body went ridged as he stopped walking. Gus and Shawn looked at the boy in slight alarm and Shawn's brain immediately thought of the worst things that was about to happen. A monster attack made that list.

Without an explanation, Nico forced himself to relax, looked both ways of the street, and walked towards the guy. Shawn and Gus followed warily, ready to bolt is something went wrong.

When they reached the guy, Shawn looked at him from head to toe. He was a middle aged UPS guy with salt and pepper hair, a UPS shirt, and brown shorts. His eyes were light blue with a spark of _something_ in them that made Shawn check his back pocket to make sure his wallet was still in there. He saw Gus do the same thing from the corner of his eye. The guy had wrinkle marks around his eyes, allowing Shawn to make the conclusion that he smiled a lot.

Nico kinda sorta bowed in front of the man, not low enough to bring attention to them but enough to make sure it was respectful, "Lord Hermes."

_Thump_

Shawn turned to his best friend who was now lying on the floor. If he could, Shawn would have taken pictures.

Instead he blurted, "I'm sorry, Herpes?"

Herpes sighed, "That's what comes into mortals minds when they hear my now nowadays, huh?"

The word hit Shawn like a freight train. _Mortals_. When they learned that Atalanta was a demigod, she didn't make a show of calling them mortals. As Shawn stood near the man, he felt an air of power he didn't notice before. What did Nico say the guy's name was? Hermes?

"You- you're that god!" Shawn stated in shock.

"You can faint like your friend now."

Shawn forced himself not to do that. Just out of pure stubbornness.

"A god."

"Yes." Hermes looked Shawn up and down, "And you are… psychic."

Shawn could literally _see_ the air quotes.

"A god." Shawn repeated. "You."

Hermes gave Shawn a wry grin and looked him in the eye, "Yes. I am. _And_ I can tell you something: The life that you've built up for seven years is about to fall apart."

Shawn's mouth fell open at the mysteriousness of the statement, "What do you-"

"Lord Hermes," Nico cut him off, "I'm sorry, but do you need something? I thought that the gods cut off contact with demigods." Shawn could hear the bitterness in the boy's voice at that.

"That's right!" Hermes snapped his fingers, either not hearing Nico's tone or choosing to ignore it, "George? Martha?"

Hermes held out his cell phone that he was talking on before, but it didn't take Shawn long to notice two green snakes that were coiled around it. Shawn thought that if Gus hadn't already passed out, then he definitely would have now. And if things couldn't get any stranger- Shawn was pretty sure the world was taking that as a personal challenge- the snakes started _talking_. It was raspy and sounded like it was inside his head.

_"Hello puny mortal."_ One male voice stated.

_"George, be nice."_ A feminine voice reprimanded.

_"Shut it Martha." _The snake called George mumbled_, "I barley talk to mortal these days; just the annoying gods. Like Demeter."_

"Hey! I'm a god you know." Hermes grumbled.

_"Oh, not you of course," _George stated. Then as an afterthought he added, _"Though you _could_ feed us more rats."_

_"The message?"_ Martha reminded.

_"Oh, right! It said… oh, I forgot."_

_"I know it. It's from Zeus-"_

_"Lucky you,"_ George mumbled.

_"-He gave you strict instructions to stop what you're doing. With the case and all."_

Nico locked his jaw, "What's he going to do about it, then?"

_"Nothing,"_ George piped up, _"It's not a matter to be dealt with now. And he said that he didn't need any of your help- and if you do help he'll stop you."_

_"You remember that part of the message?"_

If snakes could shrug, then George did.

That was about the moment Gus decided to come through. With a groan, he got off the ground and rubbed his head, "What happened?"

"This is He- er, _Lord_ Hermes," Nico stated.

Gus stumbled slightly, but Shawn caught him before he could fall over. Before Shawn could even blink, Gus was bowing deeply in front of the god. Down on his knees, nose touching the floor, arms stretched out in front of him sort of bowing. He began speaking rapidly, "Lord Hermes. An honor- no! More than an honor, it's-"

Shawn nudged his friend with his shoe when passerby's started looking at them weirdly, "Dude, you're groveling."

Gus pushed himself off the floor and looked the god in the eye, something Shawn had to congratulate his friend on later, "Is it true that when you break the plane of a mummy room, you are cursed for all eternity?"

Hermes smile faltered, barley but enough for Shawn to see, before it returned to normal, "Of course."

Nico raised an eyebrow, apparently noticing the change as well, but Shawn's attention focused on Gus when his finger was in Shawn's face, "I _told_ you, Shawn!"

Shawn rolled his eyes, "Congrats, buddy."

Thunder, much like from yesterday, sounded above their heads causing Gus and Shawn to jump.

"That's my queue," Hermes tossed a black box at Nico before whispering; "You'll need it."

And just like that, Hermes vanished taking his snake phone and air of power with him. Gus almost fainted again.

They continued to walk down the sidewalk in silence. Not even Shawn could come up with anything to say. They just met a _god_. A god with winged shoes and that stick thing you see above hospitals with snakes coiled around it. They _talked_ to the snakes.

Nico opened the box and wordlessly slid the celestial bronze bullets in his jacket. Shawn doubted that the kid would use a gun, probably his sword instead, but they would probably need backup when they found the warehouse or wherever Gaea's base of operation was. Because apparently, they weren't doing what Zeus instructed them to do. It wasn't like Shawn would stop anyway- stubbornness was one of his main attributes.

When they passed an ally, a fog settled right in front of Nico effectively stopping the boy. A few seconds passed before the fog cleared slightly to reveal a window of sorts. There was a blonde child in the window, with gray eyes, curly blonde hair, and an angry look on her face. She didn't even notice Shawn or Gus; her focus was on the son of Hades.

"Nico?" She asked as she began examining the area. If possible, her already angry face became livid, "What are you doing in _California_?!"

"Annabeth," Nico sighed and literally pushed the fog into the ally so no one would see them talk. Shawn and Gus shared a look before following. "Yeah, I'm in California."

"Is Attie with you?" She asked. Her attention shifted to something off screen, "No Leo! That piece is suppose to-"

"It's my ship!" someone cried indignantly. Annabeth's eyes blazed with fury and without another word the person off screen decided, "Actually, I believe that this piece should go there."

Annabeth nodded and turned her attention back to Nico who was rubbing his temples, trying to get rid of an oncoming headache, "Yeah, Attie's with me."

"And _why_ are you two in California?" She growled, "There are still _tons_ of things needed to be done on the ship! And why can't I even contact Attie?"

"It's a long story-"

"I swear to all the gods, Stoll," Annabeth's attention diverted to another person off screen again, "If you touch the oil with _anything_ flammable I will personally-" and, well, she continued that in another language. It must've been bad if even Nico cracked a smile.

"Listen, we're actually on a… quest of sorts."

"A quest," she repeated with a blasé look on her face. "Because we don't have enough to do with the war-"

"Annabeth!" Nico exclaimed in exasperation, "We're trying to finish this up as quickly as possible. We'll be down before you can threaten the Stolls again."

The blonde girl took a deep breath- through the nose and out the mouth, "Okay. You better."

Without another word, Nico brought his hand up and slashed through the mist. Shawn close his jaw slacked mouth, and had to bring his hand up to Gus's chin to close his mouth for him.

"What was that?" Gus managed.

"An IM," Nico answered. "Iris Message."

"I'm not sure that you're saying the right acronym," Shawn pointed out.

"An Iris Message," Gus mumbled distractedly, "Like the goddess Iris? Goddess of rainbows?"

"There was a goddess of rainbows?" Shawn arched an eyebrow. "Do double rainbows count?"

"Yeah," Shawn was pretty sure Nico was answering Gus, "She also allows demigods to 'call' each other- if she has time."

"Could you contact Attie?" Shawn asked.

"I tried," Pale fingers squeezed themselves into a fist; "It wouldn't connect."

It was quite for a moment when Shawn rubbed the back of his neck, "You know, the world where Greek gods exist is confusing."

"Let's get to the station," Nico walked out of the ally hurriedly, "I seriously don't want Annabeth to get any angrier. She's scarier than Laistrygonian giants when she wants to be."

"Laistry-what?" Shawn asked.

"Laistrygonian giants," Gus supplied. "Cannibals that-"

Nico cut off what Gus probably thought would have been a helpful biography of these giants with a glare. The kid obviously wanted silence.

Juliet was at the police station entrance waiting for them to get there. She gave them a relieved smile and herded them into the station. If anything, Juliet was acting jumpier than Gus around blood. Okay, maybe not that bad. She was never good at lying or at covering something up. Now she couldn't even tell the _Chief_ the real story with their case and he wondered if Karen asked about Nico yet.

"So," Shawn drawled in whisper next to Juliet's ear, "Dinner? Tonight?"

Juliet cast him an exasperated expression, "If I'm free. There are plenty of cases I'm needed on, Shawn." She wove a picture of one case in Shawn's face. It looked like a house, fancy enough, but that was all he could get out of it before Juliet pushed it back in her folder, "Disturbing the peace calls, store robbery, small things."

"You could help us with our case," Shawn pointed out.

Juliet sighed, "I know, Shawn, but… I don't think I could. The whole thing is just weird. I don't think that I could handle it. Plus, Carlton is avoiding any talk about the case. I can't go in if he doesn't."

"I have to agree with you there," Shawn mumbled, thinking about all his Greek experiences.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Nico asked with a suggestive smirk.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Gus rolled his eyes, "You're thirteen."

"And?"

Shawn held his hands out in a form of peace, "Come on, you two. Now, where's this new lead?"

Juliet just led them towards her desk and pulled up a file. "You said that there was a," she hesitated, "_monster_ that attacked you guys by 52nd Street? Well, there was a report of a massive dog down by Serena Avenue tearing into a hotdog cart. The dog was said to be larger than a truck. It might be where Gaea's base of operation is."

"Hellhound?" Nico questioned.

"Very large dog-like animals that have the ability to shadow travel. Creatures of the underworld," Gus stated smartly.

Juliet shrugged helplessly, "It's just a report. I don't know what it is- but I'm thinking that it's a new lead."

Shawn nodded and asked if he could talk to Gus and Nico alone. Juliet complied, giving Shawn a quick kiss on the lips before she disappeared. Checking to make sure she was gone, Shawn looked over the file himself.

"Serena Avenue is far away from 52nd Street," he commended. He remembered Zeus' warning.

_"And he said that he didn't need any of your help- and if you do help he'll stop you."_

"Doesn't matter," Nico stated with a scowl. "I have to get rid of it."

Shawn looked up from the screen towards Lassiter's desk when he noticed the man get out of his office.

"You know," Shawn stated as he straightened, "we still don't know where Lillian was killed."

"Does he have ADHD?" Nico asked Gus.

"Yeah."

Shawn ignored them and moved towards Lassiter's desk. Looking around the area to make sure that they were alone, Shawn typed in his password. _Marlow Lassiter_.

Shawn clicked around till he found what he was looking for.

"Come on, guys," he stated gleefully. "We have a new place to visit."


	6. Never complete the dinner dates

**I'm soooooo sorry! This update took foreverrrrrrrrr, but I'm pretty sure it's worth the wait!**

**_***Very Important! Read!***_**

**So, I was reading over my first Psych/ Percy Jackson fanfiction and thought 'I could do _so_ much better' So my week (where I should have been doing my English Thesis) was spent rewriting my first story: She's a Mortal, PSYCH. I added more clues, more Greek Mythology, a bit more Psychicness, and it's definitely longer. It's _much_ better! Check it out!**

**Also, I went back in _this_ story and updated it to be more informative and follow my first story better. So, you should probably go back and read this one. **

**And lastly, I'm thinking about making a Psych/ PJ crossover where Atalanta isn't in it and doesn't… _exist_. Idk If I'm actually going to do it- I've been rewriting my other two crossovers for about three weeks- but if you'd like to see it, tell me! Nico and Thalia would probably be in those.**

**Thanks so much for dealing with my amateur writing! I'm trying my best to get better and I think it's coming along! **

**OKAY, so, on the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Shawn POV

It was an ally way not far from where the jeep they found the body in. Shawn couldn't help but think how cliché it was to kill someone in an ally. It was dark, damp, smelly, and overall not a place he wanted to be. Gus' poor super sniffer was having a hard time with the smell of rotten fish lingering in the air.

"Why are we here?" Nico whispered harshly. "I need to kill the Hellhound before it hurts anyone."

"We need to solve the case," Shawn whispered back.

"You don't understand what it means to be a demigod, do you?" Nico sighed deeply, but followed them in the ally anyway.

Shawn looked around the area quickly, his eyes taking in every little detail. There were a few crates stacked up on the side of the building. Wrappers were sticking out of various mud puddles in the small space. But the real thing that stuck out- pieces of wheat littered the ground.

"That's a lot of wheat," Gus commented.

"In an ally. Who puts wheat in an ally?" Nico asked.

Flashback to the autopsy room.

_"See these marks? Looks like ropes right? Well, they're not! After swabbing a sample of the skin, it seemed to contain some traces of wheat."_

"Murder weapon," Shawn announced, though it sounded dumb- even to him.

"The wheat?" Nico asked. He nodded slightly. "Yeah, I remember- the marks."

"Plus those other pieces we found at the other scenes," Shawn pointed out.

"Why didn't Lassiter or Juliet take the wheat to evidence?" Gus frowned.

"Maybe because its wheat," Nico stated matter-of-factly. "They didn't see the significance. Someone could have thrown it here. Hades, they might not have even _seen_ it."

"Remember how long it took them to see Attie's sword?" Shawn asked Gus. "Even after she told them what it was."

"Makes sense," Gus nodded slowly. "But… _how_ could they not see it?"

"Because it was created," Nico stated. "A demigod created it. Usually daughters of Demeter have that ability."

Shawn watched as the young demigod took deeper steps into the ally. Nico kicked the wheat around a little, exposing the ground underneath. Smart. There could be something they could use.

A flash of light caught his eye and Shawn turned his head slightly to see what was uncovered from under the wheat. He squinted in the dark light.

A dark red rose earring.

Flashback to Lillian's house.

_There was one with Lillian and what looked like her BFF, a girl with short, wavy, brown hair that stopped right above her shoulders. Her eyes were bright green and she wore a wide smile, her arm casually slung around Lillian. The girl wore dark red rose earrings, hardly any makeup, and was fit with a floral shirt. _

"Guys," Shawn stated excitedly, "I know who done it!"

"Who?" Nico asked.

Shawn paused, "Okay, I know who it was… but not _who_ it was."

"He needs a name," Gus clarified at Nico's look.

"Okay, we need the police for this. Just follow my lead…" Shawn trailed off with a wide smile.

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

"This way!" Shawn stated loudly. His hands were in front of his body, above his head and palms up. They'd gone back to the police station to gather everyone who knew about demigods, meaning Lassiter and Juliet, and were now followings Shawn's 'Psychic hunch'. They knew that it was just a clue; he still didn't know where Gaea's base of operation was yet.

"I'm getting some strong vibes from this house," Shawn stated, walking up to the porch and beginning to shake his hands for effect. Without waiting, he reached out and turned the door knob. Feigning surprise he said, "Oh, look! It's open."

Lassiter and Juliet followed, the former looking more annoyed than the latter. Shawn led them towards the photo with 'The Girl with the Rose Earrings'.

Standing in front of it, he gasped and let his hands look like they were being guided towards the girl's picture. "Her!" He shouted dramatically. "She done it!"

"That girl?" Nico asked.

"Yes!" He shouted louder than necessary.

"Do you have a name?" Lassiter asked.

"No," Shawn gasped out. "The spirits… they're blocking me."

"Do you know why?" Juliet asked.

Before Shawn could answer, Nico did, "She's working for Gaea. Bailey and Lillian weren't cooperating so Gaea ordered their death."

"We can't arrest dirt," Lassiter pointed out. "What are the police going to do?"

"No, you can't," Nico spoke. "The best the police can do is arrest everyone working for Gaea. And… well, in the Greek world, fate exists-"

"The Three Fates," Gus murmured.

"-and I really have no choice but to believe in it. And nothing happens without a reason. I landed on that body in that parking garage for a reason- to get involved in this case and help solve it. No way mortals are going to take Gaea out, but the best they could do is take out traitor demigods who are on her side.

"So whoever this girl is, she probably leads the traitors. We find her and their base of operation; we can wipe out a small problem that good demigods won't have to clean up."

"Wipe out?" Gus asked.

"Well, yeah," Nico shrugged. "Gaea probably brought most of the traitors back to life. Once we storm the place and get rid of this girl who's communicating with Gaea, those people brought back to life will… die. Again. Best case scenario."

"Worst case scenario?" Lassiter asked.

"We have to take them out one at a time," Nico answered. "Or, you know, arrest them."

"They might blow the place up," Gus warned. "If they don't care about dying again, since Gaea can easily bring them back, they might get rid of the evidence that they were even there."

"Which is why we need to get Attie out first," Nico said defiantly. "She's probably in the base, and she _cannot_ die there. Her soul would haunt me till the day I die. And after."

"First we have to find the base," Shawn pointed to the picture on the wall, "and she's our new lead."

"You think this mystery girl help decorate the place?" Nico asked.

Lassiter looked around the area in disgust, "They suck at decorating."

"Maybe we can pull up some prints that weren't Lillian's," Gus stated, catching on to the idea. "I'll bet that they'll belong to this girl."

So Lassiter and Juliet went around the entire place, gaining finger prints from almost every surface. Once they sent it off to be examined by Woody- because he was the only other person that sorta knew what was happening- they left the house. Before Juliet could get in the car with Lassiter, Shawn pulled her off to the side, motioning for Gus and Nico to get inside the Blueberry.

"Dinner. I'm free, you're free, whatd'ya say? Actually, you should probably say yes. I already have reservations at Pisere."

"_Piacere,_" Juliet corrected with a small smile. "And how do you know that I finished all my work?"

Shawn placed his hand by his temple with a satisfied smirk.

"Ah, of course," Juliet nodded. "The spirits. I guess they are real helpful for planning dates."

"Please, Jules. They _like_ you. And me," he gestured between the two of them. "They like _us_. And want us to be together."

"I like _us_ too," Juliet smiled into the kiss Shawn pulled her into.

"So… six o'clock?" Shawn asked.

"Pick me up," Juliet smiled slightly.

"I'll _steal_ the Blueberry."

"You're telling a detective?"

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" He smirked.

"EW!" Nico shouted, his head popping out of the cars window. "Couple banter!"

Shawn turned and glared at the kid before flashing a smile to Juliet, "See you then."

Shawn was glad he would be able to take a break from the case. If Juliet wasn't free, he probably would have hidden in a closet just for some peace and quiet. He hadn't told anyone yet, not even Gus, but he could finally _see_ and _remember_ the nightmares that have apparently been plaguing him for days. And now he knew why his sleeping wasn't peaceful.

The dream was filled with what looked like demigods fighting in that war Atalanta told them about the first time she visited. There were monsters, thousands of them, attacking a city with mortals passed out around them and only a small group of _children_ trying to protect it. Protect the world. Mortals were passes out around the chaos, under some sort of spell or something, unaware of the city in danger.

And the monsters. Shawn shivered. There were… beautiful women with fangs and donkey legs. Massive black dogs, resembling mastiffs with glowing red eyes. Huge men with one eye in the middle of their ugly faces. Muscle giants throwing flaming cannonballs. A creature that was part man, part bull throwing cars at a black Pegasus. A flying pink pig taken down by stone lions. A gigantic serpent- like creature, over five stories high being dealt with by about _four_ _kids_. The good guys almost didn't win.

Shawn chided himself for thinking about all that. It wasn't his problem- it was the gods and the demigods.

But… it was his world too.

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Around 5:49 PM that night, Shawn broke the news about going on a date with Juliet and leaving Gus and Nico alone at the Psych office.

Neither were very happy.

Especially Gus.

"You're leaving me?" Gus whispered harshly. He snuck a glance behind him to see Nico digging around the fridge for a Coke, "With the demigod? Alone? Shawn, he can summon skeletons!"

"That reminds me," Shawn drawled, directing his attention to Nico. "If you can talk to ghosts, what's stopping you from summoning Bailey's, uh, 'spirit' and asking him where the base of operations is?"

"Easy," Nico popped open the can. "I can't summon Bailey because I can't find his spirit. I'm pretty sure that's Gaea's doing. I wonder what's happening to him now..." He trailed off thoughtfully and took a sip.

"Shawn!" Gus snapped. "I'm not staying here with him!"

"I'm not that bad," Nico frowned. "Give me as much candy as you have and pop in a movie I haven't seen yet and we're good."

"What movie do you have in mind?" Shawn asked.

Nico scratched the top of his head, "Well, Attie got mad at me when she made a _Lion King_ reference and I didn't get it."

Both men stared at the kid who shifted from foot to foot under their gazes. Finally, Shawn turned to Gus, "He might of well have taken my heart and stabbed it repeatedly."

"You don't even like _The Lion King_," Gus rolled his eyes.

"Yes but that means he probably doesn't know half the movies I reference."

"Probably not," Nico shrugged and plopped down on the couch. "Technically, I'm like eighty three years old."

Gus grit his teeth and turned sharply towards Shawn, "I cannot do this."

"Come on, Gus," Shawn whined. "I need to clear my head. Going down to my dad's was just embarrassing- a date will help."

"And where's my date, Shawn?" Gus demanded.

"Gus, I already have a girlfriend," Shawn explained. "But if I didn't, you would totally be my next choice."

Gus tisked with an irritated expression. He practically shoved Shawn out the door after that, saying that maybe a break was in order.

Shawn just laughed and slid into the Blueberry before pulling out of the Psych office. If anyone one called about skeletons running amuck on the street, he knew who it would be.

He just hoped the office won't explode with the two of them in there.

After picking Juliet up and commenting on how beautiful and fancy she was in her red dress, they were off to _Piacere_.

"I'll take the spaghetti and meatballs," Juliet stated to the waiter.

"And I'll have the chicken cutlet parmigiana," Shawn stated, sounding out the last word as best he could.

The waiter took down the orders and walked away with their menus, leaving Shawn and Juliet at the table.

"So," Shawn drawled. "You finished all your cases? Were they easy?"

"No, Shawn," Juliet stated strictly. "We are not talking about work tonight. Let's be two normal people who don't solve homicides."

"Well, that's weird," Shawn murmured with an eye roll. "Considering we do."

"Shawn!" Julie begged.

"Fine, fine," Shawn laughed lightly. "I really need a break from the case thinking anyway."

Juliet eyes him with sympathy, "The whole, uh, demigod thing?"

"You got it. I mean, I've gotten dudes kidnapped before- well, Gus has- but never a kid."

Juliet pursed her lips and began playing with the straw in her water, "Well, she can handle herself. You do know that, right?"

Of course Shawn knew. He had that dream about the war, using her Celestial Bronze sword she was killing monsters left and right like a demon.

"Besides," Juliet continued, "she probably wouldn't want you to sulk about it. Attie knows about your Psychic abilities. She knows you can find her- and probably wants you to ASAP."

"And you and Lassie still won't join the case?"

"We already agreed on helping for backup," Julie informed him lightly. "If you find the base of operations, we'll come in right after you."

"After us? Jules, I'm hurt."

Juliet smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, "That's all you're getting, honey."

They chatted aimlessly for a few more minutes, before Shawn felt the need to pee. Excusing himself, he went to the bathroom for natures call. The ADHD part of his brain wondered if Atalanta was able to pee where she was. Or if she was just locked in a room with a bucket. That probably wouldn't go down well.

After zipping his pants and washing his hands, Shawn wondered back to the dinner table. Juliet's back was to him, and before he made an exaggerated entrance, decided that he wanted to scare her. He tip toed over, but stopped when a piece of paper on the table caught his eye.

Shawn had to smile when he saw a police file sitting in front if his girlfriends face. He squinted slightly to read writing scribbled on the top right corner. It read _Disturbing the Peace_. So she hadn't really finished all her work.

Shawn looked over the picture, recognizing it as the one Juliet waved in his face this morning. It looked like a fancy house, about three stories with a pool and a large porch. There were mini lanterns decorating the exterior, as well as a huge garden in the front. There were notes scribbled on the sheet next to the picture, stuff such as: _Loud Parties_, _Many People Coming in and out_, and _Ground Shakes- Presuming Music_.

He squinted at a car that was barley in the picture, but enough was showing for Shawn to see what type it was.

A black 2008 Chevrolet Suburban.

Flashback to Lillian's house.

_Another picture showed the same mystery girl leaning proudly against a black 2008 Chevrolet Suburban._

His brain seemed to go into overdrive.

That was the same kind of car that the 'Girl with the Rose Earrings' was leaning against. It was parked outside of a large house that had disturbing the peace calls. People reported that the ground shakes and many people enter and exit the place. Juliet couldn't figure it out.

That was the place.

Shawn just found the base of operations.

But he so desperately wanted to eat his chicken cutlet parmigiana.

Shaking his head, Shawn quickly went to his seat and plopped down making Juliet jump slightly. At least he scared her.

She looked up and smiled, but it was replaced with a worried look when she saw her boyfriends pale expression, "Shawn? Sorry, I was just-" she began placing the file away, only to stop when Shawn's hand covered hers.

"Jules," he whispered as if afraid someone was overhearing, "I know where Gaea's people are."

Nothing else needed to be said. The couple stood up and left the restaurant without a second thought. The waiter was left standing at their abandoned table with a confused expression, two steaming plates of food ready to be served.


	7. Found ya

**Really sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I've been on vacation and wrote this chapter ASAP.**

**_***THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE. HIGHLY SUGGESTED YOU READ:_**

**So… I've been thinking about my stories, my OC Carly, her own story/background, and decided to change some stuff. Like her name for instance.**

**I'm soooo sorry if this confuses anyone/ makes you hate me, but a whole bunch of things c**_**ompletely**_** changed in my mind. I'm going to post some more info about it on my profile, so to be informed go check that out. It has more info on my OC and such.**

**So, yeah, some big changes to come annnnddd a new story hopefully coming out this month. But I'm still working on this story (and if you go back to both stories in this Psych AU (again, sorry) you'll see I've changed some things) There's a lot of work ahead of me, and I hope that I'm enough of both a dedicated writer and a **_**good**_** writer to keep this new project I'm working on going.**

**What's this new project, you might ask? (Or not, idk, I'm not stalking you) Weeellll, it's mostly me rewriting the PJ books to fit Percy's twin sister in it.**

**Can we get one thing straight: I know there are (I'm pretty sure no one else added to this list) two of these already going around, but I'm going to write one as well because I've got my own ideas to make. Different love interests, different action- mainly a bunch of different stuff. I apologize times a million if anything in my story is similar to the other people, but I know mine will have a whole bunch of different factors. Those other stories are amazing, and they inspired me to make my own.**

**Thank you for your understanding. You'll see some stories from me soon enough! And look for the changes. PM me if you feel the need ^.^**

**(For anyone who read the story with 'Carly' as my OC, please keep in mind that I have changed her name. Thank you)**

**Now, ON WITH THE STORY! Sorry, not a ton of action in this chapter- definitely the next one though :)**

**And thanks times a billion to all the people reading/ reviewing/ liking/ favoriting! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or Percy Jackson. They belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Shawn POV

Shawn and Juliet walked inside the office where they found Gus and Nico sitting side by side, Nico hogging the popcorn, as they watched The Lion King. They were right at the part where Mufasa fell off the cliff into that herd of cow things. Nico was watching with an unimpressed look on his face as he shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth, while Gus bawled his eyes out.

"Guys!" Shawn shouted. The movie was at an unnecessary level of volume. "Turn the movie down or something!"

Nico complied, getting their remote buttery in the process. Shawn wondered if that was intentional, "What? Weren't you guys on a date?"

"Bigger things came up," Shawn replied gloomily. He quickly backpedaled once he saw Juliet's expression, "Well, they were only slightly bigger. I mean, you know, being on a date is the best and biggest thing-"

"Shawn," Juliet rolled her eyes, "calm down. Just tell them."

The door burst open and Lassiter's heavy footsteps flooded the room, "What is taking so long?" he demanded. His gaze turned to the TV, "What are you watching?"

Nico and Gus stared at Lassiter, obviously not expecting the man to be in the room. Gus cleared his throat and stood up, "Lassie? What are you doing here? What's happening?"

"Really?" Lassiter deadpanned. "You haven't told them?"

"Dude, we just got in the room," Shawn defended. "_You_ need to learn to be more patient."

Lassiter's hand slowly made its way to his jacket pocket. Shawn knew the man probably had dreams about shooting him, but hey, he couldn't in fear of losing his job. "_You_ need to learn to be less annoying."

"_You_ need to stop watching cops."

"Spencer, I will shove this gun so far up your-"

"I repeat," Gus interrupted. "What's happening?"

"We found it!" Shawn threw his hands in the air and waved them around. "Dude, we found the base! Well, I found it, but who cares about _that_?"

"You found Gaea's base?" Nico asked suddenly looking more interested. He placed the bowl of popcorn on the couch and stood up, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Hold up!" Lassiter objected. "Last year, Atalanta explained that there were monsters at Malinda's house. What if there are monsters at the base? Normal bullets won't be enough and I want to shoot some of these monsters, and let my bullets have an effect on them."

Nico reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the Celestial Bronze bullets Hermes gave him. There was a fairly large amount that he pulled out, way more than Shawn remembered.

"These are Celestial Bronze," Nico stated as he placed the bullets on the table. They clanked loudly in the silent room, "You and Juliet can use them."

Lassiter picked one bullet up and examined it, "These… these are the bullets for our guns. How did you-"

"A god delivered them," Shawn spoke as he stared at Nico. "I didn't know there were so many."

"There wasn't," Nico said. "Hermes must have put a spell on the original three so that they multiplied."

"I'm sorry, Hermes?" Juliet asked.

"Oh yeah," Gus suddenly looked very happy. "We met a god before."

Lassiter rolled his eyes, "We should probably get going." He took his gun out and began swapping the bullets. Juliet came over and did the same. "Now, when we get there, I _don't want to see any of you_. Got it?"

"What about me?" Nico objected. "I have a sword."

"Any of you!" Lassiter barked. "I doubt we're the only ones with a gun, and you aren't to be in the line of fire. Do I make myself clear?"

"So what are we going to do?" Nico huffed as he crossed his arms like a stubborn child.

"You can look for Attie," Juliet suggested. "We'll be the distraction while you guys find her."

"O'Hera," Lassiter whined as he looked at Juliet. "Why are _we_ the distraction?"

"Because we have the guns," Juliet cocked her gun for emphasis. She looked at everyone in the room, "Now I think it's a good time to blow up Gaea's operation."

§§§§§§PaGe BrEaK§§§§§§

Shawn was feeling jumpier than usual.

Whenever he and Gus made their way to face the murder, or murders, Shawn always had a little anxiety building up inside of him. Fear? Meh, sometimes. Usually his ADD allowed his mind to wonder to other things, instead of the task at hand, which always made things a little easier.

But now, all Shawn could think about were the monsters he'd dreamt about. They were all _so_ ugly, huge, and powerful, Shawn wondered if they had a chance. At least he, Gus, Lassiter, and Juliet were okay- they were mortals. That just left Nico and Atalanta, the two demigods.

But what if there _were_ monsters? The Ball Ski snakes from last year didn't seem to have a problem with Gus and Shawn. One was ready to eat his best friend.

Shawn just _hoped_ that wasn't the case.

They pulled up to the house Shawn saw in the file. It was nighttime, and the lights around the house cast an almost eerie glow. He didn't know how the mini lanterns could cast an eerie glow, but they were doing a pretty good job at it. Lassiter and Juliet walked slowly and cautiously to the house with their guns drawn as Shawn, Gus, and Nico followed. Nico held his skull ring in his hand, ready to throw it in the air and turn it into a sword at a moment's notice.

When they reached the entrance, Lassiter turned the door knob. The door swung open.

The two detectives shared a look before walking into the dark room. Almost immediately, the lights switched on, cause Gus to jump slightly. Shawn shrugged at the look Nico gave him before walking into the house.

The inside just screamed: I'm rich.

There were at least five couches in the living room alone. The largest TV Shawn had ever seen was hanging on the wall adjacent to them. The kitchen was the size of a small yacht with a table that sat maybe fifty people at it. The best line of kitchen equipment was set up in the kitchen and the fridge was stocked with the best food. The other floors held bedrooms, a library, and even a game room. Shawn kind of wished he could stay there forever.

They searched the house for an hour, quickly discovering that no one was home. Shawn didn't question it, happy that they wouldn't run into any bad guys. But there wasn't anything… evil in the house. There had to be a trap door or secret room or something.

Lassiter of all people found it. Even if he didn't know he found it, he found it.

Everyone gathered in the huge living room when Lassiter exploded. "This is it? Spencer, there's nothing here!"

"We just have to keep looking," Shawn stated, sure that they were in the right place.

"Nothing is here!" Lassiter growled. He marched up to the only closet in the area and pulled it open, revealing cleaning supplies. "It's just an average household-"

"Wait!" Nico suddenly screamed. He jumped off the couch and sprinted to the closet and started examining the right side of the wall.

Shawn, Gus, and Juliet joined the young demigod. He was looking at a piece of metal that was bolted on the wall with a triangle, ∆, clearly carved out on it.

Gus tilted his head to the side and ran his fingers on the mark, "It's a delta. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. "

"What's that got to do with anything?" Lassiter asked in a very un-nice way.

In response, Nico swatted Gus's hand away and let his hover above the triangle, "It needs the touch of a half-blood." Nico's pale fingers made contact with the metal, making the delta glow black. The demigod jumped back as the walls began to shake, bumping into Lassiter's chest and pushing them both back. The walls continued to shake and Shawn watched with jaw slack amazement as stairs carved themselves out of the closet floor.

Once the shaking subsided, Team Psych was left to stare at the very dark passageway leading underground. Juliet kept her gun trained on the bottom, as if a monster would jump up and devour them all. Which wasn't entirely unlikely.

"Uh, after you," Gus said.

They went in a single file line, the staircase too narrow to walk any other way. Lassiter was first down the hole with Juliet right in tow. Shawn went after them and before Nico could follow, Gus was shoving his way to the middle. He never liked to be first or last in line- if you were in the middle then you had a less chance of death. Or at least that's what his research brought up. And most movies.

The staircase seemed to go down forever, and Shawn felt as if the ceiling was going to collapse on them. He gulped and continued walking, trying to expel those thoughts.

Shawn didn't have a watch on, and he really didn't feel like getting his phone from his pocket, but he assumed it had been about six minutes before they reached the bottom. When everyone exited the staircase, Shawn took a moment to examine the area. And it was a very large area.

The walls were completely made of cement, reaching high above and curved into a dome shape. It looked like the place went on for miles. There were mostly wooden crates stacked on top of each other everywhere, the occasional person walking around the area.

Lassiter and Juliet grabbed Shawn, Gus, and Nico's arms and shoved them behind one of the crates. Shawn rarely appreciated being manhandled, but decided that this could be an exception. After all, he could barley move himself.

"Alright," Lassiter said, "here's the deal. We're going to go and draw their fire- keeping them away from you."

"There was a hallway down there," Juliet pointed over to the left. "It looks like the only other place you can go in this room. Go down there and look for Attie."

"Hurry up," Lassiter grunted as he stood up. "I don't like being underground."

Nico nodded curtly and before Shawn knew it, the boy was sprinting in the direction of the hallway. Gus and Shawn just managed to stay right behind him, and soon they were standing at the entrance of a short passageway.

Nico activated his sword and turned to the closest crate. With a quick flick of his wrist, the top was popped open. Shawn peered inside, surprised to see so many weapons in the crate. It was just… stacked with javelins.

Nico cursed and picked one up, "I'm not a fan of these… but maybe you two can use them."

He handed one off to Gus who took the item and held it so tightly his knuckles turned light. Nico gave one to Shawn, who examined the flimsy piece of metal in his hand.

"Won't this, I don't know, break as soon as we use it?" Shawn asked.

"Don't underestimate it," Nico warned. "That thing is stronger than your Psych building."

Shawn didn't say anything as they followed Nico deeper into the base. More crates were lined up in a much more orderly fashion than the other room. If each of those held as many weapons as the other crate….

They stepped into the light and glanced around the room. Something whizzed past Shawn's ear, a slight whoosh being heard from the close proximity of the object. Shawn glanced behind him and almost fainted. An arrow was buried in the wood of a crate.

A man jumped down from a pile of crates, ominously uncovering himself from the shadows. His body language just screamed cockyness. He had short blonde hair, large muscles, and held a bow in one hand with the quiver full of arrows on his back.

"You should not have come," He stated very simply as he surged forward and swung an arrow at Nico's face.

Shawn didn't even know how he did it. One minute his brain couldn't even process the fact that a bad guy was standing in front of them with weapons, and the next the javelin in his hands was being swung in the direction of the stranger's face. The guy reeled backwards clutching his nose, blood leaking through his fingers. Before he could even be mad that a mere mortal had just hit him, Nico brought the hilt of his sword down on the guy's head, making the guy crumble.

"Nice reflexes," Nico muttered simply as he continued into the room. Shawn just nodded, sharing an astonished look with his best friend.

Their little victory was short lived, however, when the alarm started blaring. Guess Juliet and Lassiter had gotten their attention. They shared a look before running to the opposite side of the room where two more hallways sat side by side. Nico looked down each of them, his face showing the little patience he had.

"The one on the left?" Shawn asked.

Nico growled in annoyance but didn't move. A few seconds later and a very distant and muffled, "What? Are you idiots under attack?" was heard down the right side tunnel.

Nico immediately tore down that hallway, Shawn and Gus excitedly following. That had been Atalanta. They were close. Unfortunately, about halfway down the tunnel, they could see silhouette of something large moving very fast in their direction. As it got close, Shawn could make out details- and he really wished he couldn't.

First of all, the guy was dressed in a loin cloth only wrapped around his waist, allowing his extremely hairy legs and chest to be exposed to the world. He was fat, with large arms and a brutish face. But what really stuck of was his eye. Yup, eye. Through the process of elimination, he deuced that it was a Cyclops.

Shawn and Gus yelped and slowed down, but Nico just sped up and pointed his sword so it was parallel to the ground. With a battle cry, the two met up in the middle. An explosion of yellow dust was the result. Nico didn't wait to congratulate himself or anything as he continued on. Shawn and Gus did as well, hoping desperately not to lose the only one of them that knew what he was doing.

They took a sharp turn and was immediately greeted with the sight of a large man standing next to a closed door. He looked normal enough, but god, his muscles were larger than Shawn's head. And he really doubted that the guy was on steroids. The guy looked up, startled, just in time for a rock to land on his face from above. Shawn looked at Nico to see his hand pointing above the guy's head, a broken chunk of rock hanging from the ceiling.

Nico ran up to the door and pulled it open, immediately ducking a fist that came flying at his face.

"Oh gods! Nico?" Atalanta asked as she barreled out of the door and collected the boy in a hug. Shawn was glad they finally found her- just a few retracing of their steps and they could be home free. Out of the creepy underground place that gave Shawn the jitters.

Nico pushed away quickly, "Attie, we gotta go. Lassiter and Juliet are fighting-"

"Nico, we need to do something first," Atalanta cut him off, a determined look on her face. "There's a power source here that's helping Gaea stay put. We need to destroy it."

Nico nodded without any questions and pointed farther down the hallway, "Should we check down there?"

Atalanta smirked, "Yup," She turned to Shawn and Gus and offered them a wide smile. "Glad to have you guys on my side. Come on, this thing is almost over."

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed her Pegasus charm and soon held her Celestial Bronze sword in hand. With a quick nod to Nico, the two of them were running down the hallway. Shawn and Gus followed them, the option of making it back towards that staircase that led up to the awesome house gone in their minds. Besides the fact that the Atalanta and Nico might need their help, Shawn and Gus probably wouldn't get out alive on their own anyway.

By the time they saw the light at the end of the annoyingly long tunnel, Shawn's legs were ready to jump off his body and into lava. They burned, and the sound of his heart beating echoed in his head. Geeze, he really needed to exercise.

They reached the end and each of them came to an abrupt halt. In the back of the room stood a large glass dome, a pink and black mix of colors swirling around with shots of electricity shooting out of the color mass and connecting with the glass wall. The thing reminded Shawn of those electricity balls that when you placed your hand on them, your hair would stand up. A powerful humming noise echoed around the cavern, and Shawn was ready to take a step back from the sheer power. But that wasn't the only thing that made him want to take a step back.

Surrounding the ball was at least a hundred bad guys, each facing the four of them. They ranged from monsters to demigods, none looking too pleased that four heroes were standing in an obviously highly confidential area.

Shawn resisted the urge to say, "Oh, we were just looking for the bathroom," and instead allowed his jaw to pretty much fall to his feet. Atalanta and Nico positioned themselves in front of them, each in a battle stance. The silence in the room hung in the air, tension so thick you could probably cut it with one of the very pointy swords the bad guys were holding.

But it only took a few seconds before Nico and Atalanta sprung into action, throwing themselves into the mass of evil people. It was about that time that Shawn decided that he was going to take next week off, sleep in, and probably do nothing but eat and breathe.


End file.
